Quantifying the surface properties of enzymatically-made porous starches by using a surface energy analyzer

•The surface properties of enzymatically-made porous starches were investigated.•Inverse gas chromatographywas sensitive enough to detect surface alterations.•The increase in porosity and surface area had no effect on water vapor sorption.•Enzyme treatments resulted in porous starches with significant higher surface energy.•Starch acid-base behavior can be selectively increased depending on the enzyme. The behavior of starch during processing and its performance in products is influenced by the surface energetics/structure of the constituent particles. This work investigates the effect of enzymatically-produced porous maize starch particles on their energetic surface properties using inverse gas chromatography-based surface energy analysis (SEA). Three modified maize starch samples treated with amylase (AM), glucoamylase (AMG) and cyclodextrin-glycosyltransferase (CGT), were used for the study. The dispersive surface energy varied from 36.71 (native) to 43.34 mJ/m2 (AMG