Short communicationRelationship between pasting parameters and length of paste drop of various starches

•The length of paste drop was strongly affected by starch source.•The length of cereal paste drop correlated with the 2nd order pasting parameters.•The correlation will be useful for process design and development of a new product.

When a starch paste stretches and breaks during dropping under gravity, the length of fully stretched paste drop is considered as an important flowing characteristic of starch. The length of paste drop (LPD) often determines eating quality of the starch-containing foods. The relationship between pasting parameters measured using a rapid visco-analyzer and LPD of various starches from different botanical sources was investigated at different starch concentrations (50, 70 & 90 g/kg). Starch content in the paste mainly affected the single pasting parameters (p < 0.05), whereas the type of starches such as genotype, botanical source, cereal/root vs tuber, and variety affected the LPD (p < 0.05). Pasting parameters such as peak viscosity, breakdown, final viscosity, peak viscosity/final viscosity, and peak viscosity-final viscosity exhibited significant correlations with LPD (p < 0.05) regardless of starch source. Especially for cereal starches, the correlation coefficient values between the 2nd order pasting properties (breakdown/setback, peak viscosity-final viscosity, and peak viscosity/final viscosity) and LPD were relatively high (r = 0.81-0.93).