A novel underutilized starch resource— Lucuma nervosa A.DC seed and fruit

The starch isolated from Pouteria campechiana seeds and pulp is the novel underutilized tropical fruit resource. Pouteria campechiana seed starch (PCSS) had higher amylose content (33.65%), peak viscosity (PV) (4612 cP), breakdown viscosity (BDV) (1993 cP), pasting temperature (Tp) (74.45 °C), gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH) (11.06 J/g), gel adhesiveness (−5.15 g-s), relative crystallinity (Rc) (22.68%), and short-range molecular order (0.740) than Pouteria campechiana pulp starch (PCPS) (16.63%, 4288 cP, 544 cP, 70.95 °C, 8.43 J/g, −10.22 g-s, 17.65%, and 0.675, respectively). Contrastingly, PCSS had lower final viscosity (FV) (3651 cP), setback viscosity (SBV) (1032 cP), gel hardness (173.69 g), water absorption capacity (WAC) (95.21%), and average particle size (7.26 μm) than PCPS (5763 cP, 2019 cP, 243.39 g, 122.86%, and 9.21 μm, respectively). PCSS and PCPS had A-type crystalline structures. A principal component analysis disclosed significantly positive correlations between 1047/1,022, amylose, Rc, Tp, ΔH, and Pt (p < 0.05). Porosity, PV, BDV, FV, gel adhesiveness, gel hardness, and WAC were significantly positively correlated with particle size and SBV whereas 1047/1,022, amylose, Rc, Tp, Pt, and ΔH were significantly negatively correlated with these parameters (p < 0.05). Thus, a theoretical reference for further empirical investigations into P. campechiana fruit and seed starch applications in the food industry has been provided.