DisplayTitle

Factors Affecting the Alkaline Cooking Performance of Selected Corn and Sorghum Hybrids

¹Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0919. ²Agricultural Research Division/NE Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0704. ³University of Nebraska-Lincoln, The Food Processing Center, 222 Food Industry Complex, Lincoln, NE 68583-0930. ⁴Corresponding author. Phone: (402) 472-2142. Fax: (402) 472-1693. E-mail: wratnayake2@unl.edu ⁵Office of the Texas State Chemist, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77841-3160. ⁶USDA-ARS, Center for Grain and Animal Health Research, Manhattan, KS 66502. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by the USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable. ⁷Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68593-0915.

Dent corn (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) sample sets representative of commonly grown hybrids and diverse physical attributes were analyzed for alkaline cooking performance. The influence of kernel characteristics including hardness, density, starch properties (thermal, pasting, and crystallinity), starch content, protein content, and prolamin content on alkaline cooking performance was also determined. Corn nixtamal moisture content was lower for hard, dense kernels with high protein contents; sorghum nixtamal moisture content was lower for kernels with low moisture contents and low starch relative crystallinities. Statistically significant (P < 0.05) regression equations showed that corn nixtamal moisture content was influenced by TADD (tangential abrasive dehulling device) index, kernel moisture content, starch content, and protein content; sorghum nixtamal moisture content was influenced by starch relative crystallinity, kernel moisture content, and abrasive hardness index. Pericarp removal was not strongly correlated with kernel characterization tests. Location (environmental) and hybrid (genetic) factors influenced most kernel characteristics and nixtamalization processing variables.