Gelatinization of Low Water Content Wheat Starch — Water Mixtures. A Combined Study by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Light Microscopy

The effect of heating starch‐water mixtures of low water content (between 50% and 1.5% water) has been observed by the techniques of both birefringence measurement and differential scanning calorimetry. The temperature at which gelatinization was complete, i. e. at which complete loss of birefringence occurred, increased as the water content was reduced. Complete loss of birefringence occurred over the whole of this range of water content. A correlation was established between the loss of birefringence and passage through the M1 DSC endotherm, assigned to the melting of starch crystallites.