More than fifty years were necessary until the wellknown effects of the heat/moisture-treatment of starches were used for the industrial production of convenience products. It can be suggested that a combination of several techniques was necessary to get really tailormade products which are able to match the needs of the consumer.
The DSC technique applied upon the structure and property changes which occur during the controlled application of heat and moisture (either in aqueous suspensions„ in semidry systems or in water miscible solvents) always delivers valuable information as to what happens to the granule, and on the state of the reaction etc. Therefore, it can be used not only for controlling such treatments, e.g. excluding an inhomogenous treatment, but also for the optimization with respect to certain properties (e.g. granular cold swelling starches).