Essential oils are widely employed in food industry as natural flavors, however, these compounds are very difficult to handle due to they are very susceptible to oxidation and volatilization during process and storage generating undesirable flavors, therefore, it is necessary to use a protection method as microencapsulation. Chemical and thermo‐mechanically modified rice starch was used as wall material together with native rice starch, maltodextrin, and protein to microencapsulate orange essential oil by a spray‐drying technology. Microcapsules obtained were characterized in encapsulation efficiency (%EE), encapsulation yield (%YE), solubility, humidity (%), water activity (Aw), and color difference (ΔE). Through a surface response analysis, best formulations were selected and evaluated by its microestructure and stability of encapsulated essential oil. Results showed that the best encapsulating agent was the one with modified rice starch as predominant ingredient (>50%) of the wall material, showing higher efficiency than commercial encapsulating ingredients. Practical applications Microencapsulation is widely employed in food industry due to its ability to protect a compound of interest from adverse conditions that can generate decomposition of it or, in terms of flavor compounds, the generation of undesirable aroma and flavor characteristics. A lot of wall materials have been used to develop microencapsulation, however, starch is one of the main natural wall materials employed in microencapsulation by spray‐drying due to its high encapsulation efficiency. Rice starch is proposed in this study because is an abundant raw material, has the property of generate spherical aggregates and, together with another wall materials (maltodextrin and protein), can generate a resistant wall material with high encapsulation efficiency. Furthermore, the modification of rice starch involves a less employment of reactives, due to the thermomechanical process, obtaining a starch with more affinity to nonpolar compounds (essential oil), low viscosity, and solubility at room temperature (25 °C); which made this, an environmental friendly process. The procurement of the best wall material formulation suitable for encapsulation by spray drying, is of primary importance in order to preserve the quality and integrity of the encapsulated essential oil by reducing the presence of oxidation byproducts, increasing the shelf life and improving with this, its application inside a food matrix. Once the best wall material formulation is obtained, it can be used for the encapsulation of any type of essential oils used in the food industry.

Natural starch (NS) was isolated from triticale flour (TF) and later modified by extrusion (MS) using acetic anhydride as a reactive agent. From each product (NS, TF, MS) a proximal analysis was performed as well as the characterization of its physicochemical properties (particle size determination (PSD), water absorption index (WAI) and solubility index (WSI), color L*, a*, b*, and viscosity), degree of substitution (DS), and thermal properties (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Particle below sizes of 250 μm were obtained in the NS and MS treatments (42.91 and 36.03 %, respectively). The DS value (0.1) was found within the range allowed by the FDA for human consumption (0.01-0.2). MS presented a greater value in WAI (4.52), and the color parameter of b* (22.75) as well as a decrement in L* (70.61) and retrogradation viscosity (5.2 cP) values, being an indicator of greater functionality compared to NS. Through DSC, we found that MS experimented a decrement of 30.2 °C in the glass transition temperature compared with NS. Through isolation and the different modification treatments applied to triticale starch, we obtained functional ingredients with high potential, for use in food for microwave expanded and fried food as third generation snacks.RESUMENA partir de harina de triticale (HT) se aisló almidón (AN) para ser modificado por extrusión (AM), utilizando como agente reactivo anhídrido acético. De cada uno de los productos (HT, AN, AM) se realizó su análisis proximal y se caracterizaron sus propiedades fisicoquímicas (determinación de tamaño de partícula (DTP), índice de absorción de agua (IAA) e índice de solubilidad en agua (ISA), color L*, a*, b* y viscosidad), grado de sustitución (GS), y propiedades térmicas (calorimetría diferencial de barrido (CDB). Se obtuvieron tamaños de partícula en los tratamientos AN y AM por debajo de los 250 μm (42.91 % y 36.03 %, respectivamente). El valor del GS (0.1) se encontró dentro del rango permitido por la FDA para consumo humano (0.01-0.2). AM presentó mayores valores del IAA (4.52), así como del parámetro de color b* (22.75) y un decremento en los valores de L* (70.61) y de viscosidad de retrogradación (5.2 cP), siendo un indicador de una mayor funcionalidad en comparación con AN. Mediante CDB se encontró que el AM experimentó un decremento de 30.2°C en la temperatura de transición vítrea en comparación con la AN. A través del aislamiento y la modificación del almidón de triticale se obtuvieron ingredientes funcionales con un alto potencial para ser utilizadas en alimentos destinados a expansión en microondas o por freído como las botanas de tercera generación.