Non-chemically modified food starches

A process for producing thermally inhibited starch, specifically thermally inhibited non- pregelatinized granular starch, is described, resulting in a viscostable starch product. The process comprising providing an alkaline starch, specifically an alkaline non-pregelatinized granular starch,having a pH of at least 8; subjecting the starch to a hydrothermal treatment, specifically to obtain a hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch, said hydrothermal treatment being at a temperature of 45 -200 °C with steam at a steam pressure of 0.1-15 bar or a gas mixture comprising water vapor at a partial water vapor pressure of 0.1-1 bar; dehydrating the starch, specifically the hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch,to a moisture content of 2 wt% or lower and subjecting the starch to a thermal treatment by heating the starch to a temperature of 120 -190 °C to obtain viscostability,cooling and optionally further processing the starch