Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Heated in water they absorb it, thicken the liquid and set on cooling. The figure is taken from Institute of Food Technologists, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Starch granules swell and burst in heat

Heated in water they absorb it, thicken the liquid and set on cooling Starch grains are packed with amylose and amylopectin, and in cold water they only swell slightly. Heat lets water penetrate until the granules gelatinise, uncoil and thicken the surrounding liquid, which is how a sauce or a rice pudding sets. Stirring too hard breaks the swollen granules and makes the result thin and gluey rather than glossy. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Institute of Food Technologists

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Science trivia

More facts like this

A dark roux is flour cooked until nuttyIn Louisiana kitchens it goes far past golden, to the colour of chocolate Starch ratio determines whether cooked rice is fluffy or stickyHigh amylose content yields firm separate grains while amylopectin causes stickiness Waxy potatoes hold their shape and floury ones crumbleThe ratio of amylose to amylopectin starch sets how a potato behaves Cooling cooked potatoes changes their starchGelatinised starch re-crystallises as it cools, firming the potato up Risotto creaminess comes from surface starchStirring short-grain rice rubs starch off the grains into the liquid Bread goes stale because its starch re-crystallisesStaling is chemistry in the crumb, not simply water evaporating

Tags: starch, thickening, gelatinisation

Starch granules swell and burst in heat: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Heated in water they absorb it, thicken the liquid and set on cooling. The figure is taken from Institute of Food Technologists, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.