Abstract

Gelatinization of tapioca starch is retrograded during the frozen – storage. This retrogradation affects the quality of the starchy food. This paper studied the influence of various types of sugars: glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose in different concentrations: 0 %, 2 %, 4 %, 6 %, 8 % (w/w) on the stability of tapioca starch gels over 5 freeze – thaw cycles. The syneresis, turbidity (OD) and the hydrolysis degree by apha–amylase of starch gels were determined to analysis the effect of sugars on the stability of the tapioca starch gels. Our result showed that the freeze – thaw stability of tapioca starch gels could be improved by adding sugars. The improvement of the syneresis (%) was in the order: maltose > sucrose > glucose > fructose. The result also showed that disaccharides (sucrose, maltose) were more effective than monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) in reducing the syneresis and turbidity. Adding maltose at 8 % (w/w) was the most effective in the reduction of the starch retrogradation