Rheological properties of highly cross-linked waxy maize starch in aqueous suspensions of skim milk components. Effects of the concentration of starch and skim milk components

Abstract

The storage modulus of various concentrations of highly cross-linked waxy maize starch was measured in water, a salt solution, a salt solution with lactose, whey, and skim milk. The influence of the skim milk components was deduced from the differences in moduli between these systems. Salts appeared to have no direct influence on the modulus of the starch. Lactose increased the storage modulus, probably due to an increase in the particle rigidity of the swollen starch granules. The whey proteins had only a small effect on the modulus of the starch. However, the concentration of these proteins was very low. Casein micelles increased the modulus of the starch because the swollen starch granules are not accessible to the casein. A model based on the mutual exclusion of swollen starch granules and milk proteins was applied to predict the storage modulus of starch-milk systems as a weighed sum of the moduli of the starch and protein phases. Weight factors were derived from the hydration capacity of starch granules and casein micelles. Although the behaviour of aqueous starch-skim milk systems fell within the boundaries imposed by the model, the predictive power of this model was rather poor.