Effects of microwave on microscopic, hydration, and gelatinization properties of oat and its application on noodle processing

Oats are becoming increasingly popular due to their nutritional, but they were difficult to process, and unique characteristics. Therefore, this study established a model of microwave pregelatinization conditions between gelatinization degree (DG) of oat and investigated the characteristics of oat flour with different DG. Here, the results showed that the hydration (WSI and WAI increased to 5.43 g/100 g and 4.33 g/g, respectively) and thermodynamic properties of oat flour were improved, and the SEM and XRD results showed that the high-frequency electromagnetic field and thermal effect of the microwave destroyed the crystal structure of the starch and formed an aggregate with lower gelatinization temperature and enthalpy. Compared with the natural oat flour that cannot be extruded into strips, the oat flour with a DG of 88.5 g/100 g was prepared into strips of noodles with improved qualities. The mentioned results proved the potential of microwaves in the development of oat products. Practical applications Oats which are rich in nutritional and β-glucan ranked fifth in total output among the eight major food crops in the world. However, oats are of limited suitability for processing due to the characteristics of oat starch. Therefore, this study established a model of microwave pregelatinization conditions and gelatinization degree and described the characteristics of microwave-pregelatinized oat flour with different gelatinization degrees, so that the oat flour with different gelatinization characteristics can be processed into different products. For example, the oat flour with a gelatinization degree of 88.5% mentioned in the study was applied to extruded whole oat noodles, and the noodles with good qualities were obtained. Therefore, this article provided references for the processing of oat products.