Physicochemical changes of maize starch during the lime‐heat treatment for tortilla making

Abstract

As measured by the Brabender viscoamylograph, alkali-cooking and soaking of maize in water (nixtamalization) caused large increases in viscosity, as compared with native flour. Marked effects of cooking time on the pasting properties of nixtamal were also observed. As assessed by the blue value method, nixtamalization does not cause extensive gelatinization of the starch. This was supported by differential scanning calorimetric studies, which yielded similar gelatinization endotherms for untreated maize and nixtamal flours. However, no endotherm peak appeared in tortilla samples made from this nixtamal. Furthermore, untreated maize and nixtamal flours contained many unswollen starch granules.

Starches of Some Food Crops, Changes During Processing and Their Nutraceutical Potential

“…For this reason, tortilla supplies about 60% of the calcium requirements of Mexicans' diet. Interactions between starch and calcium take place as reported by Robles et al [84] and Mondragon et al [73]; however, more studies are necessary on this matter and on its nutraceutical effects.…”

“…The alkaline-cooked maize grains are named nixtamal, and after grinding a soft dough known as masa is obtained. Masa is used in the production of tortillas, which are the principal staple food in the Mexican diet, representing the main source of carbohydrates and calcium [77,84]. Due to the heat treatment, the lime addition, the steeping and grinding of nixtamal, diverse changes in the components of the maize are produced.…”

Thermal and rheological properties of nixtamalized maize starch

“…Starch isolated from nixtamalized sample showed higher temperature than its raw counterpart, this pattern is due to that Ca 2+ ions stabilize starch structure of nixtamalized sample [18,19]; in the same sense, annealing of starch during heating of maize grains in the nixtamalization process, produce an arrange of starch chains, increasing the temperatures of the transition. This pattern is in agreement with the enthalpy values determined, although starch from raw maize had a higher enthalpy value, this was not different of the starch isolated from the nixtamalized sample.…”

Effect of different calcium sources on the antioxidant stability of tortilla chips from extruded and nixtamalized blue corn (Zea mays L.) flours

“…The use of other calcium sources that produce neutral or low pH could minimize the degradation of these compounds. Some investigations have evaluated the use of other alkaline compounds for corn cooking (Robles et al, 1988;Maya-Cortés et al, 2010;Botelho et al, 2013) searching for ways to minimize environmental pollution and preserve the quality of nixtamalized products. In addition, another study showed the use of calcium lactate (C 6 H 10 O 6 Ca) for white corn nixtamalization, which produces tortillas with good texture and color (Ruiz-Gutiérrez et al, 2012); C 6 H 10 O 6 Ca could be an alternative method for blue corn nixtamalization because it does not produce high alkaline pH, and thus it may minimize anthocyanin damage during the nixtamalization and other processes producing high-antioxidant products with natural pigments.…”