| Abstract: | In recent years, physical behaviors of glassy foods are greatly focused as many processed foods are consumed in their glassy states. Physical aging is one of the important phenomena for glassy foods, which is responsible for quality changes vs. retention of freshness during storage. The aging phenomenon can be predicted on the basis of a process of thermodynamic relaxation, induced by structural rearrangements in amorphous matrices. Thus, it can be evaluated by using calorimetric, volumetric, and mechanical analyses. Starch is one of the principal components in most cereal‐based glassy foods, and its aging is thus relevant to the overall changes in quality and freshness of various cereal‐based food products. The polymeric theory for the physical aging of glassy starch is reviewed on the basis of the existing literature, and the aging kinetics based on the changes in various physical and thermal properties are discussed. |
