Estudo para fins industriais das propriedades funcionais do amido nativo e modificado hidrotermicamente, provenientes de banana verde, variedade "prata".

Abstract

Banana fruits represent the fourth largest most important product commercialized worldwide. Brazil is one of the largest banana producers in the world and is also one of the countries that waste the most. Aiming to reduce wastage, green banana has been considered an ideal product to be industrialized, because it contains a large amount of starch, which part of it is considered resistant starch, with physiological effects similar to those of alimentary fiber. Given this, the present work aims to extract starch from green banana (lady’s finger kind) and modify it hydrothermally by two distinct methods. From the starches obtained were evaluated the functional properties and their possible use as an ingredient in food processing. For the extraction of the starch, the green banana pulp was treated with bisulfite solution 1%. For hydrothermal modification by heat moisture treatment (THM), the starches had their moisture adjusted to 15%, 20% and 25%. For modification by annealing (ANN), the starch was treated with excess of water in a water bath at temperatures of 45, 50 and 55 ºC for 16 h. The native and modified starches were analyzed physico-chemically and the results were compared with the corn starch. The functional properties were also analyzed. The extraction yield was 23.80%, with good quality. The resistant starch content with the modification by THM 25% got reduced compared to the native starch from 24.92% to 20.74% and increased with the modification by ANN 50 ºC to 26.95%. The THM 25% increased amylose content compared to native starch from 42.13% to 47.10%, while the ANN 50 °C reduced it to 38.60%. The swelling power (SP) was reduced in starch modified by THM. The ANN increased the SP of the starches at 70 °C. The green banana starches were less soluble than commercial corn starch. The TTLH 25% increased the capacity of water absorption (CWA) in 34.85% and the oil absorption capacity (OAC) in 14.20% compared to native starch. The ANN 50 °C reduced the OAC in 3.55%. The modifications increased the minimum concentration of gel formation (CGF) and recorded increase of 6% (native starch) to 12% (THM 25%). All modified starches showed pulp clarity greater than the values for banana native starch. The hydrothermal treatments promoted a reduction in syneresis and this reduction was more pronounced in the starch modified by ANN 55 ºC, with a reduction of 45.22% compared to the native starch. After the ANN, the starches obtained syneresis similar to commercial corn starch, analyzed just for comparison. Considering quality and yield of extraction, resistant starch content and functional properties that showed varied results after modifications, it was concluded that the starch from the green banana (lady’s finger kind) is technologically feasible and it can be used as an ingredient in various segments of the food industry.