ABSTRACT
Development of new food products requires an understanding and appreciation for the scientific and technological principles of foods and food processing. Food serves the basic functions of providing nutrition and psychological satisfaction. The largest and most important food component is water, comprising more than 70% of our nutrient intake. Water is the vehicle for nutrient transport and the medium in which most biochemical and physiological reactions take place. Carbohydrates constitute the structural and storage organelles of plants and are also present to a much lesser degree in animal tissue. Simple sugars are the immediate products of photosynthesis. They are also the end products of the complete digestion of carbohydrates. Starches are the storage carbohydrates in grains and root crops. Starches are complex molecules consisting of long chains of repeating units of the simple sugar, glucose. Amylose and amylopectin are present in different starches in different proportions.
