An enzymatic method for assessing the degree of gelatinisation in plantain (musa AAB) foods in situ

Gelatinisation temperature in excess moisture was determined on plantain starches and flours and the degree of starch gelatinisation in whole cooked foods was deduced. The gelatinisation temperature of plantain starch was determined using an enzymatic method (with confirmation from scanning electron microscopy). Starch gelatinisation temperature for plantain starch was observed at 75±1 °C n=3, while it was 80±1 °C, n=3, for starch in the flour. The enzymatic digestion method was then applied for the determination of the in vitro degree of starch digestion in ripe and unripe flours of plantain (in situ) at different treatment temperatures, and an attempt was made to deduce the equivalent treatment temperatures of cooked foods from the flours using three equations. One-way anova statistical analysis was used to determine the equation that gave the best fit, which was subsequently used to estimate values for the degree of starch gelatinisation in some cooked plantain foods. Treatment temperatures extrapolated from the equation of best fit ranged between 73.2±0.3–79.5±0.2 °C and 67.8±0.5–80.1±1.3 °C for ripe and unripe plantain foods respectively. Processing conditions are therefore important in preserving the nutritional quality of starch in plantain.