Potato Starch

Among the major industrially produced native starches, potato starch stands out with distinct characteristics that make it a choice ingredient in food manufacturing. Potato starch has larger (oval, spherical) starch granules than the other major starches. Native potato starch also has the highest viscosity among all the major native starches. It reaches a peak viscosity of 3000 BU at 60⁰C – 65⁰C. It also exhibits the highest swelling power and solubility at 95⁰C compared to other native starches.

The starch paste or solution from native potato is nearly clear, with very high viscosity and long texture. It also has relatively medium rate of retrogradation and medium-low resistance to shear. The high viscosity of native potato starch indicates a lower amount of potato starch is needed to obtain a paste with a given viscosity, compared with corn, wheat or tapioca starch. The texture of potato starch can be further described as visco-elastic, cohesive and long-bodied. The clarity of the potato starch paste can be considered as clear or translucent. Films of potato starch products are observed to rate high in tensile strength, flexibility, solubility and gloss.

Potato starch has a neutral flavor profile.