Texture changes of Chinese water chestnut(Eleocharis dulcis) during canning and the relationship between texture and starch properties

The texture changes of Chinese water chestnut(Eleocharis dulcis) during canning and the relationship between texture and water content were studied during different processing periods. The texture parameters of Chinese water chestnut were analyzed during pre-cooking, evaporation and sterilization, respectively. The results show that elastic nature(fracturability, hardness and adhesiveness) and plastic nature(cohesiveness and resilience) of Chinese water chestnut have different responses to thermal processing. The elastic properties rise back during evaporation processing. However, the plastic properties decreased during the whole processing. In the meanwhile, water content show significant negative correlation with adhesiveness, and correlate positively with all plastic parameters. The relationship between changes of Chinese water chestnut texture and starch properties was analyzed to find the feasibility of obtaining good product texture by changing starch properties. It is observed that swelling power, gel properties and setback of Rapid Visco Analysis(RVA) are significantly correlate with different texture parameters. The conclusion is that it is possible to obtain good product texture through controlling different thermal processing, especially pre-cooking, or by changing starch properties.