In order to reveal the synergy principle between polysaccharide gum and starch,the effects of xanthan gum（XG） on the properties of tapioca starch（TS） paste were investigated by using a Bradender viscometer,a scanning electron microscope and a Haake rheometer.The results indicate that（1） the addition of xanthan gum increases the peak,breakdown and final viscosities of native TS,but decreases the gelatinization temperature and the setback value;（2） xanthan gum effectively reduces the syneresis,but may result in larger ice crystals in the starch gel;and（3） the addition of xanthan gum increases the storage modulus,and obviously decreases the loss tangent at an angular frequency of more than 0.5rad/s,which makes the starch-xanthan paste behave more solid-like charac-teristics than the native starch paste.