day, starch is extracted from more than 50 types of plants. Untreated starch requires heat to thicken or gelatinize. When a starch is pre-cooked, it can then be used to thicken instantly in cold water. This is referred to as a pregelatinized starch. Starch sugars Starch can be hydrolyzed into simpler carbohydrates by acids, various enzymes, or a combination of the two. The resulting fragments are known as dextrins. The extent of conversion is typically quantified by dextrose equivalent (DE), which is roughly the fraction of the glycosidic bonds in starch that have been broken. These starch sugars are by far the most common starch based food ingredient and are used as sweeteners in many drinks and foods. They include: Maltodextrin, a lightly hydrolyzed (DE 10–20) starch product used as a bland-tasting filler and thickener. Various glucose syrups (DE 30–70), also called corn syrups in the US, viscous solutions used as sweeteners and thickeners in many kinds of processed foods. Dextrose (DE 100), commercial glucose, prepared by the complete hydrolysis of starch. High fructose syrup, made by treating dextrose solutions with the enzyme glucose isomerase, until a substantial fraction of the glucose has been converted to fructose. In the U.S. high-fructose corn syrup is significantly cheaper than sugar, and is the principal sweetener used in processed foods and beverages. Fructose also has better microbiological stability. One kind of high fructose corn syrup, HFCS-55, is sweeter than sucrose because it is made with more fructose, while the sweetness of HFCS-42 is on par with sucrose. Sugar alcohols, such as maltitol, erythritol, sorbitol, mannitol and hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, are sweeteners made by reducing sugars. Modified starches A modified starch is a starch that has been chemically modified to allow the starch to function properly under conditions frequently encountered during processing or storage, such as high heat, high shear, low pH, freeze/thaw and cooling. The modified food starches are E coded according to European Food Safety Authority and INS coded Food Additives according to the Codex Alimentarius: 1400 Dextrin 1401 Acid-treated starch 1402 Alkaline-treated starch 1403 Bleached starch 1404 Oxidized starch 1405 Starches, enzyme-treated 1410 Monostarch phosphate 1412 Distarch phosphate 1413 Phosphated distarch phosphate 1414 Acetylated distarch phosphate 1420 Starch acetate 1422 Acetylated distarch adipate 1440 Hydroxypropyl starch 1442 Hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate 1443 Hydroxypropyl distarch glycerol 1450 Starch sodium octenyl succinate 1451 Acetylated oxidized starch INS 1400, 1401, 1402, 1403 and 1405 are