Amylose content as a difference between heat‐sterilised smooth and wrinkled garden peas

Abstract

A method of determining the amylose content in starch of heat‐sterilised garden peas is described. By this method a number of smooth and wrinkled peas and garden peas of the type Cennia in different size grades were analysed. The amylose content of wrinkled peas showed values between 38.6 and 85.8%, of smooth peas between 19.9 and 43.4% and of Cennia between 10.8 and 25.6%. These values overlap, but, in the corresponding size grades, the amylose content of the wrinkled peas is much higher than that of the smooth peas and this in turn is much higher than that of Cennia. Given a known size grade, the amylose content can be used to identify heat‐sterilised garden peas when a microscopical examination is inconclusive.