THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HYDROXYPROPYLCELLULOSE AND STARCH DURING GELATINIZATION

The behaviour of a system of starch, water and hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) has been studied using optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ultra violet spectrophotometry. Although no dis cernible difference in the gelatinization behaviour of the starch was found when HPC was added, there was a noticeable change in the precipi tation of HPC in the presence of starch granules. The results suggest that, during heating, the HPC molecules preferentially adsorb on the s tarch granules thereby reducing the effective concentration of the sol ution. The consequences of this interaction for processing starchy foo ds with HPC are discussed.