Organic Pea Starches–III. Comprehensive Characterization of Starches from a Set of Pea Varieties Grown Over 3 Years

This work focuses on the variation in starch properties from different pea cultivars grown under different weather conditions. The features of the isolated starches investigated range from their molecular properties to functionality. In particular, granular structure and gelatinization behavior, basic techno-functionality such as paste viscosity and gel strength. Considering the granular size or shape and the general AM content, only small differences were found between cultivars and the cultivation periods. The granular sizes between 21.3 and 28.0 µm were found. No significant differences between the mean particle sizes gathered for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 were found (p < 0.05). The AM content in all samples ranged from 27.3% to 35.9%. Here, a variation of the mean annual values was detected (32.4 ± 1.2% in 2020, 30.6 ± 2.0% in 2021, and 33.0 ± 1.3% in 2022), possibly relating to hot and wet conditions in 2021. Considerable differences were found regarding the MW distribution. In detail, the average MW was found between 25.9 × 106 and 96.3 × 106 g·mol−1 depending on pea variety and cultivation year. These differences appear to correlate reasonably with gelatinization temperatures. For example, the gelatinization temperatures increased significantly from 2020 to 2022, for example, To: 60.9 ± 1.2°C (2020), 63.2 ± 0.7°C (2021), and 66.2 ± 0.9°C (2022). Furthermore, the significant variation in functional properties such as hot past viscosity or gel strength appears to correlate with the specific temperatures.