The objective of this study was to understand the factors underlying the susceptibility of pulse (lablab bean, navy bean, rice bean, tepary bean, velvet bean, and wrinkled pea) and hylon VII starches towards in vitro hydrolysis by the combined action of pancreatin and amyloglucosidase. The time taken to reach an equivalent level of hydrolysis (50%) varied significantly among the starches. Changes to molecular order, crystallinity, double helical content, radial orientation of starch chains (polarized light), enthalpy and apparent amylose content during the progress of hydrolysis showed that rate and extent of hydrolysis were influenced both by the structure of the native starches at different levels (molecular, mesoscopic, microscopic) of granule organization, and by the extent of retrogradation between hydrolysed starch chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]