Insight into the improving effect on multi-scale structure, physicochemical and rheology properties of granular cold water soluble rice starch by dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma processing

In the present study, the alcohol/alkali treatment of starch produced granular cold-water-soluble starch (CWS) and explored the improvement of dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma (CP) on its multi-scale structure, physicochemical and rheological properties. The granular integrity of the prepared CWS was destroyed, and the crystal structure changed from type A to amorphous. CP processing reduced the molecular weight of CWS and the ratio of long amylopectin to produce small molecular parts with appropriate chain length. CP processing also resulted in a decrease in amylose content, relative crystallinity, and short-range order. These structural changes promote the improvement of CWS properties. For example, CP-treated CWS starch exhibited better solubility, swelling power, flowing capacity, and enzymatic hydrolysis properties. Therefore, this research showed that cold plasma technology is suited to improve the structure and enhance properties of CWS to tailor starch to the desired food applications.