Mechanical properties of a corn starch product during the post-frying period

The mechanical properties of the crust and core regions of an immersion-fri ed corn starch patty containing different amounts of gluten, amylose, and a mylopectin were studied after various storage times. Moisture and oil profi les for the different gluten contents were also determined during post-fryi ng storage. The addition of gluten did not affect the hardness of the crust region of the fried samples during storage, but the addition of amylose an d amylopectin significantly increased the hardness of the crust. Samples wi th 5% added amylopectin showed a similar behavior, but in this case the pun cture force significantly increased during the first hour of storage and re mained constant thereafter. The range of linear viscoelastic behavior for f ried corn starch patties in compression was for strains up to 4%. Stress re laxation curves showed that the elasticity of corn starch patties increased with time of storage, but decreased with the addition of gluten. The addit ion of 5% amylose caused a significant increase in elasticity, whereas with 5% amylopectin, the increase in this variable was less noticeable.