ISOLATION AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF STARCHES ISOLATED FROM PLANTAIN (MUSA PARADISIACA) AND COOKING BANANA (MUSA SAPIENTUM) B. OTEGBAYO 1 , O. LANA and W. IBITOYE Department of Food Science and Technology Bowen University, P.M.B 284 Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria Accepted for Publication May 26, 2009 ABSTRACT Plantain and banana are important staple crops. The physicochemical properties of starches extracted from plantain and cooking banana were investigated to determine their industrial utilization potential. Starch yield, granule morphology, amylose, water binding capacity, paste clarity, transmit- tance, syneresis and pasting characteristics of the starches were studied using standard methods. Results showed that starch yield was between 14 and 22%, amylose ranged between 23 and 25% in both varieties. Granule morphology revealed that the starch granules were oval and elongated oval. The granule size ranged between 9 and 25 mm in plantain and 15–55 mm in cooking bananas. The starches had high peak viscosity, high pasting temperature as well as high final viscosity. Least gelation concentration for both starches was between 6% and 8%. The opaque gel formed after cold storage revealed a tendency to retrograde this; coupled with low syneresis indicates fairly stable freeze-thaw stability. These results indicate that the starches can find wide application for different food products in the food industry. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Plantain and banana starches have been reported to have potentials for commercial utilization due to its digestion properties (easily hydrolysable starch) and functional properties. Though there have been studies on the chemical composition of banana and plantain, only few studies have been Potential Reviewers: (1) Dr Napinder Singh, Department of Food Science and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, India. E mail: narpinders@yahoo.com (2) Dr Lawal Olaide, Department of Chemical Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago- Iwoye Ogun State, Nigeria. E mail: laidelawal2@yahoo.com 1 Corresponding author. TEL: +234-8034727399; EMAIL: botegbayo@cgiar.org DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-4514.2010.00354.x Journal of Food Biochemistry 34 (2010) 1303–1318. © 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1303