ARS | Publication request: STARCH-OIL COMPOSITES PREPARED BY STEAM JET COOKING. PREPARATION, PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS

Submitted to: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: February 21, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: New and useful products (trademarked Fantesk TM by the USDA) are prepared from starch, water and oil by a steam jet cooking process that utilizes the high temperature and turbulence within the cooker to uniformly distribute the oil component within the aqueous starch matrix as micron-sized droplets that do not coalesce and separate, even after prolonged standing. Surface- -active agents are not needed. Compositions typically contain 20-50 parts of oil per 100 parts of starch, by weight, and may be prepared from a wide variety of vegetable oils, lipids, and water-insoluble organics. Drum drying is a practical method for isolating these compositions and produces outwardly dry products that are not oily to the touch. No agglomeration or separation of dispersed oil is observed when dried products are redispersed in water. A significant percentage of the oil component is tightly held within the starch matrix and cannot be easily extracted with hexane. Fantesk compositions function as stabilizers for oil-water mixtures, and this property may be used to facilitate product preparation by adding previously prepared material to formulations when they are first prepared for cooking. This "add-back" procedure not only inhibits separation of oil and aqueous starch prior to cooking, but also reduces the average size of oil droplets in the cooked dispersion. Oil droplet size can also be reduced by addition of protein, by multiple passes through the steam jet cooker, and by increasing steam line pressure during jet cooking. Fantesk compositions have practical applications in food products, adhesives, industrial coatings, seed coatings, cosmetics, drug delivery systems, and oil drilling formulations. Licenses have been granted by the USDA to three companies for applications in these areas.