Correlation between gelatinization enthalpies,water absorption index and water soluble index in grits, corn meals and nixtamalized corn flours.

Corn snack industry has empirically found that big and abundant blisters are developed when cornstarch is highlygelatinized, because of milling processes. This defect affects mainly the texture and appearance of the snacks. In the presentstudy, gelatinization enthalpy by DSC was measured in grits, corn meals and nixtamalized corn flours, and correlated withWater Absorption Index (WAI) and Water Soluble Index (WSI), to generate an enthalpy prediction model. Results indicatedthat the more intense the process of milling was (lower particle diameter), the lower the gelatinization enthalpy values were.Grits presented a gelatinization enthalpy mean of 8.05 1.22 J/g, corn meals of 5.33 1.87 J/g and nixtamalized corn floursranged between 2.35 y 3.28 J/g. The gelatinization enthalpy was significantly correlated with WAI and WSI (- 0.847 y -0.763, respectively). A predictive model was successfully generated to predict gelatinization enthalpy in grits, corn mealsand flours