The heat capacities of starch and starch-water have been measured with adiabatic calorimetry and standard differential scanning calorimetry and are reported from 8 to 490 K. The amorphous starch containing 11-26 wt % (53-76 mol %) water shows a partial glass transition decreasing from 372 to 270 K, respectively. Even the dry amorphous starch gradually increases in heat capacity above 270 K beyond that set by the vibrational density of states. This gradual increase in the heat capacity is identified as part of the glass transition of dry starch that is, however, not completed at the decomposition temperature. The heat capacities of the glassy, dry starch are linked to an approximate group vibrational spectrum with 44 degrees of freedom. The Tarasov equation is used to estimate the heat capacity contribution due to skeletal vibrations with the parameters Theta (1) = 795.5 K, Theta (2) = 159 K, and Theta (3) = 58 K for 19 degrees of freedom. The calculated and experimental heat capacities agree better than +/-3% between 8 and 250 K. Similarly, the vibrational heat capacity has been estimated for glassy water by being linked to an approximate group vibrational spectrum and the Tarasov equation (Theta (1) = 1105.5 K and Theta (3) = 72.4 K, with 6 degrees of freedom). Below the glass transition, the heat capacity of the solid starch-water system has been estimated from the appropriate sum of its components and also from a direct fitting to skeletal vibrations. Above the glass transition, the differences are interpreted as contributions of different conformational heat capacities from chains of the carbohydrates interacting with water. The conformational parts are estimated from the experimental heat capacities of dry starch and starch-water, decreased by the vibrational and external contributions to the heat capacity.