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Ultrastructure Studies Of Pasta. A Review., P. Resmini, M.A. Pagani

Food Structure

Freeze-fracturing can be used effectively to study pasta microstructure both in the dry and cooked state. Aft er a walerglycerol soaking. conventional raw wheat pasta shows an uncoagulated protein matrix in which the starch granules are uniformly dispersed. Starch granules appear unswollen with a spherulitic structure. Extensive protein denaturation and starch swelling may occur during processing when a temperature greater than 60°C is attained in drying. Extensive structural transformations take place in cooking. A fibrillar protein network which envelops gelatinized starch is the typical structure observed in cooked durum wheat spaghetti. Whereas. in soft wheat products, there is a less …