Effect of melting combined with ice recrystallization on porous starch preparation: Pore-forming properties, granular morphology, functionality, and multi-scale structures

[Display omitted] •Critical melting with freeze–thaw (CMFT) can be used as a clean-label way to prepare porous starch.•Partial weakening of structure before FT is critical for porous starch formation.•Freezing rates determined the pore-forming characteristics of starch.•CMFT-prepared porous starch had more ordered double-helical structures.•CMFT significantly increased the thermostability and water/oil absorption of starch. In this work, critical melting (CM) combined with freeze-thawing treatment (FT, freezing at −20 ℃ and −80 ℃, respectively) was used to prepare porous starch. The results showed that CM combined with the slow freezing rate (−20 ℃) can prepare porous starch with characteristics of grooves and cavities, while combined with the rapid freezing rate (−80 ℃) can prepare with holes and channels, especially after repeating FT cycles. Compared with the native counterpart, the specific surface area, pore volume, and average diameter of CMFT-prepared porous starch were significantly increased to 4.07 m2/g, 7.29 cm3/g × 10−3, and 3.57 nm, respectively. CMFT significantly increased the thermal stability of starch, in which the To, Tp, and Tc significantly increased from 63.32, 69.62, and 72.90 (native) to ∼69, 72, and 76 °C, respectively. CMFT significantly increased water and oil absorption of porous starch from 91.20 % and 72.00 % (native) up to ∼163 % and 94 %, respectively. Moreover, CMFT-prepared porous starch had a more ordered double-helical structure, which showed in the significantly increased relative crystallinity, semi-crystalline lamellae structure, and the proportion of the double helix structure of starch. The synergistic effect of melting combined with ice recrystallization can be used as an effective way to prepare structure-stabilized porous starch.