Publication no. C-1998-0605-03R |  VIEW ARTICLE

NOTE: A Simple Wheat Flour Swelling Test (1).

B. X. Fu (2-4), M. I. P. Kovacs (2), and C. Wang (5). (1) Publication 1715 of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre. (2) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2M9. (3) Corresponding author. E-mail: <bfu@cigi.ca> (4) Present Address: Canadian International Grains Institute, 1000-303 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 3G7. (5) Visiting scientist from Zhengzhou Grain College, Zhengzhou, Henan, P.R. China. Cereal Chem. 75(4):566-567. Accepted March 9, 1998. Copyright 1998 Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Government of Canada.

Flour swelling tests have been widely used to assess the intercultivar differences in starch properties. This note describes a modified flour swelling test which uses approximately 30 mg of flour. It avoids the use of a high-temperature water bath, and does not require a set of uniform and leak-proof tubes. The modified procedure offers a simpler and more rapid alternative to those previously reported, and provides a similar level of discrimination and precision. It is particularly suitable as a micro-scale early generation test for wheat flour swelling properties.