Specialty Starches

N/At designers of liquid dairy products such as smoothies and yogurt drinks need to provide a mouthfeel that consumers will enjoy. Although conventional functional hydrocolloids have been tried, they all have limitations, including high cost and difficulty in use. In addition, they can impart undesirable mouthfeel attributes such as sliminess.

Certain specialty starches' functional properties include: lubricity without sliminess, easy dispersion in cold water, solution stability at low viscosity, effective suspension of particulates such as fruit pulp, resistance to acids, heat and high-shear breakdown, nonmasking of flavors, enhancement of flavor, ability to round or smooth flavor profiles and ability to carry less soluble ingredients. Many specialty starches do not stay in solution at low usage levels, but Instant Textra starches do stay in solution in application and they are cost-effective in use.

Two sample formulations of liquid dairy products:

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie
A frozen strawberry-banana smoothie mix for retail can be prepared using an instant starch as the mouthfeel-enhancing ingredient. The functionality of the starch in this product is very clean flavor release, separation control and smooth texture enhancement. If frozen, the starch also prevents ice crystal growth. The features of this smoothie include no fat and no artificial ingredients.

Nonfat, Strawberry-flavored Yogurt Drink
A ready-to-use, strawberry-flavored, yogurt drink can be prepared using the instant starch as the mouthfeel-enhancing product. In this application, the starch provides creaminess and lubricity while enhancing the natural strawberry flavor perception. It also masks the astringency of the plain nonfat yogurt.

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