Probing the Functionality of Physically Modified Corn Flour as Clean Label Thickening Agent with a Multiscale Characterization.

A multilevel and multianalytical approach, combining both traditional and unconventional analytical tools, was used to characterize two physically modified (heated and heated-extruded) corn flours to be used as a "clean label" food ingredient. Physical treatments decreased the resistant starch content and increased the water holding capacity and water binding capacity, more extensively in the product subjected to heating-extrusion, as compared to an untreated control. Heated-extruded flour had the highest ability to form homogeneous systems in cold water while all modified flours produced homogeneous systems when mixed with hot water.