Starch Test

Introduction:  Starch is a high calorie food that converts to sugar during the digestion process. This creates a concern for people who are observing a low calorie diet. Because of this, you may want to test different foods and fruits to determine if they contain starch and estimate their relative starch contents.

State the Problem:
What foods or vegetables contain starch?

Research the Problem:
Before we start, we need to know more about starch. Studies show that starch is white, odorless, tasteless carbohydrate powder soluble in cold water. This information will help us extract starch from our samples for more accurate tests. If we have any colorful fruit or vegetables for test, we can eliminate the chance of mixed colors and inaccurate tests. Starch also plays a vital role in the biochemistry of both plants and animals. It is made in green plants by photosynthesis, and is one of the main forms in which plants store food. Animals obtain starch from plants and store it as glycogen. Both plants and animals convert starch to glucose when energy is needed. Commercially, starch is made chiefly from corn and potatoes.

Hypothesis:
Starch is a substance in most fruits and vegetables, which means that it is most likely in the vegetable and fruit samples. Since starch is an inexpensive and widely available food product, it is being used as a food additive in many food products.

Experiment:

In order to perform this project, we must use Iodine solution as a reagent for starch. One drop of this solution on any sample can detect starch by changing the color of the tested area to dark blue.
We will be using the following samples:

 

Fruits and Vegetables	Food Products
Rice	Milk
Potatoes	Yogurt
Grains	Ice Cream
Apples	Macaroni
Carrots	Nuts
Broccoli	Cereal

Procedure: We crush the wet samples, add cold or room temperature water and filter the solution to get a clear liquid. Next, test the samples of the clear liquid for starch and record the result.

Materials Used:

We used iodine solution, transfer pipettes, test tubes, petri-dishes, filter paper (coffee filter) and known starch samples.

Analyze Data:

Report which of the foods or fruits you tested contain starch. Can you also say which one has more starch?

Materials in a kit:

Starch test science kit has everything you need in order to detect and identify starch in different fruits, vegetables, objects around you and more. This kit includes: Iodine solution 5 test tubes 3 plastic transfer pipettes one Petri dish Starch paper Non-starch paper Starch peanuts Cornstarch Online project guide with different project ideas and step by step instructions on most of them. You may also use this kit to see and demonstrate the effect of enzymes in breaking the starch molecules down to sugar.

Need more iodine solution? Additional Iodine solution is also available for sale in one ounce brown bottles. Order a complete kit here Order additional iodine solution here