Non-chemically modified starch with enhanced functional properties

The invention pertains to a process for manufacturing inhibited starch, involving subjecting a prehydrolysed, chemically unmodified, granular starch in an amount of 5 - 40 wt% in an aqueous composition to conditions promoting inhibition at pH > 1.7 for at least one hour at a temperature below 60 °C, wherein the starch has been prehydrolysed to having a weight-average molecular weight (MW) which is 2 - 50 % of the weight-average MW, as determined with GPC-MALLS, of the corresponding starch composition when subjected to hydrolysis at pH 5 for 18 hours. The invention also pertains to an inhibited starch having (i) a final viscosity (FV) which is at least 10% higher compared to the FV of the chemically unmodified, granular starch that has not been subjected to prehydrolysation and inhibition; and/or (ii) viscostability expressed as a breakdown viscosity (BV) of less than 25%, together with a FV which is at least 10%, wherein the starch has an improved whiteness value (L* value) of at least 92.2 on a scale of 0-100 as defined e.g. by the CIE, Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage, wherein (100) represents absolute whiteness.