Banana - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 146

starches of different varieties presented the same peak vis-
cosity and underwent a relatively slight breakdown and in-
crease in the viscosity at setback (Bello-Perez et al., 2000).
The Brabender microviscoamylograph results showed
that the consistency of native Musa paradisiaca starch
began to increase at about 76 ◦ C, which is regarded as the
pasting temperature (Nu nez-Santiago et al., 2004).
To increase or diversify the use of banana starch, di-
verse methods for its chemical modification have been
described in a recent review (Bello-Perez et al., 2010).
Oxidation of banana starch produced biodegradable films
with better mechanical and barrier properties than those
elaborated with its native starch (Zamudio-Flores et al.,
2007, 2009).
Banana starch has been used for preparation of a vari-
ety of foods. Two cookie types were prepared: one with
banana starch from Musa paradisiaca and the other with
maize starch (control); consumer sensory evaluation did
not show difference among “polvorones” elaborated with
maize starch and those elaborated with banana starch. For
the other cookie type (“Pastas secas”) there were differ-
ences in the preference of the consumers (Bello-Perez et al.,
2000). Spaghetti was prepared by substituting semolina
with 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% banana starch. The addi-
tion of banana starch promoted a dilution effect on protein,
lipid, and ash content. Resistant starch content significantly
increased with an increase of banana starch in the spaghetti.
The values of cooking loss and firmness were in the accept-
able range for good-quality pasta. Sensory evaluation of
the product showed that the addition of banana starch im-
proved the acceptability of the spaghetti (Hernandez-Nava
et al., 2009). Salted noodles were prepared with different
contents of semolina and plantain starch. Noodle contain-
ing 30% of plantain starch had 2.16% of RS, while the
control noodle had 1.87% RS. Approximately 50% of total
RS in the noodle was resistant starch associated with fiber,
showing that a part of RS is due to the physically inacces-
sible and retrograded starch fractions. Pure wheat (control)
noodles presented a greater final

Unripe banana flour production
Banana starch isolation can be an alternative to expanding
the end use of this fruit. The physicochemical and func-
tional characteristics of banana starch have been demon-
strated. However, there is a potential to produce diverse
products with unripe banana flour and consequently de-
crease the cost generated in the starch extraction step. Re-
cently, a pilot-plant scale process to produce unripe banana
flour (UBF) was reported by Bello-Perez et al. (2010).
In the unripe state of banana fruit, carbohydrates are the
main fraction; of these, starch and nonstarch polysaccha-
rides (dietary fiber) are the major constituents. One of the
current tendencies in nutrition and health is to consume
less of digestible carbohydrate food products. Unripe ba-
nana represents an alternative source of indigestible carbo-
hydrates, due to a number of reasons such as high resistant
starch content and high level of dietary fiber components
(cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin).

Characteristics and uses
UBF from Musa paradisiaca variety was reported to have
total starch content between 73.0% and 76.8% (Juarez-
Garcia et al., 2006; Rodrıguez-Ambriz et al., 2008; Aguirre-
Cruz et al., 2008). Total starch in flour from other varieties
and cultivars ranged between 61.3% and 76.5% (Da Mota
et al., 2000). The highest total starch content (82.1%) was
reported in sweet banana (82.1%). Other important com-
ponent of UBF is dietary fiber, 10.0-14.5% (dry basis) in
Musa paradisiaca (Juarez-Garcia et al., 2006; Rodrıguez-
Ambriz et al., 2008); when the same variety was used for
UBF production but with pulp and peel, total dietary fiber
was 17.1% (Aguirre-Cruz et al., 2008). Total dietary fiber
in banana flour for diverse Brazilian varieties and cultivars
ranged between 6.3% and 15.5% (Da Mota et al., 2000).
RS in unripe banana assessed with two methods was 57.2%
and 47.3% (Faisant et al., 1995).
The UBF has been used for food product development,
for example, in bread, where wheat flour was totally re-
placed by UBF. RS in bread with added UBF was higher
(6.7%) than that of control bread (1.0%). Total dietary fiber
level increased from 2.3% in control bread to 5.1% in bread
added with UBF. The high values of RS and total dietary
fiber had a beneficial impact on the glycemic index; UBF-
added bread had value of 64.3% versus control bread with
78.8% (Juarez-Garcia et al., 2006).
Pasta was added with UBF at three different levels to
increase its indigestible carbohydrate content. Protein con-
tent in spaghetti decreased when UBF was increased in
the formulation. RS content showed an inverse pattern

-amylolysis value, which
is suggestive of potentially lower glycemic impacts for the
plantain/semoline products.
Alternative uses of banana starch have been reported:
fructose syrup production and its physicochemical charac-
terization. The transformation of banana starch to sucrose
was carried out in two steps. Starch was enzymatically
transformed into glucose, followed by its isomerization
into fructose. The isomerization process yielded an average
concentration of 63.3 mg/ml of fructose after processing
for 80 hours, representing an average conversion of 41.3%
(Hernandez-Uribe et al., 2008).

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