Effect of Storage on Fat Acidity and Pasting Characteristics of Wheat Flour

ABSTRACT Two cultivars of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), Sunco and Sunsoft, were used to study the influence of storage time and temperature on the formation of starch‐lipid complexes in flour pastes. Untreated and fat‐reduced whole meal flours were stored separately for up to 12 months at 4, 20, and 30°C. The stored samples were analyzed for fat acidity, pasting properties, and iodine binding values. Fat acidity increased significantly in the untreated flour samples stored at 30 and 20°C compared with 4°C. Starch pasting properties, as measured using a Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) indicated that the final viscosity of untreated flour samples of both cultivars increased significantly with storage time and elevated temperature, and correlated positively with increased fat acidity. Iodine binding values of the RVA pastes decreased with storage time and elevated temperature, and correlated negatively with fat acidity and final viscosity. The fat‐reduced Sunco and Sunsoft flours showed less pronounced changes compared with untreated flours, whereas small changes in the RVA parameters were noted in grains stored over 12 months. The results indicate that free fatty acids are released during storage and that they increase the potential for starch‐lipid complex formation when stored whole meal wheat flours are pasted in the RVA. These changes were evident after two to three months of storage at 20 and 30°C.