Physicochemical characterization of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) flour and isolated starch.

This work studies the physicochemical properties of quinoa flour and isolated starch. Starch in the seed forms clusters rich in amylopectin that are immersed in a matrix with spherical and polygonal shapes in the submicron scale. The isolated quinoa starch is rich in Sulphur and Magnesium. The quinoa flour has a higher content of protein, carbohydrates and lipids than isolated starch. Water absorption and water solubilized indexes of starch exhibited high values that could had originated by the extraction method. The broad peaks found for the X-ray patterns of isolated quinoa starch indicate that amylose and amylopectin are composed by nanocrystals, according to the PDF-4+2019 software. The viscosity of isolated starch had a higher value than flour; therefore, the quinoa starch could be used as a thickener in different formulations with the advantage of keeping a significant presence of minerals which are important to the human health.