Potatoes are highly consumed food around the world, usually following processing of some kind. Apart from its noteworthy presence in diets, potato starch has a multitude of industrial applications as a food additive and recently in novel domains such as nanotechnology and bioengineering. This review examines the microscopic and spectroscopic methods of characterizing potato starch and compares the different properties. The microscopic techniques such as optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) allow observation of structural elements of potato starch. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) delves into the thermal behavior of starch in presence of water, while Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analyze the behavior of various chemical bonds and crystallinity of starch. These characterizations are important from a dietary point of view for patients requiring a low-glycemic diet, as well as in facilitating research into a wider array of industrial applications.

土豆通常是经过某种加工后在世界范围内消耗量很大的食物。除了在饮食中的显着存在外，马铃薯淀粉作为食品添加剂还有许多工业应用，并且最近在诸如纳米技术和生物工程等新领域中。本文综述了表征马铃薯淀粉的微观和光谱方法，并比较了其不同的特性。诸如光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜（SEM）的显微技术可以观察马铃薯淀粉的结构元素。差示扫描量热法（DSC）深入研究了淀粉在水存在下的热行为，而傅立叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱和X射线衍射（XRD）分析了淀粉的各种化学键和结晶度。