Baked product development based fermented legumes and cereals for schoolchildren snack

The objective of this work was to develop three foodstuffs based on mixes of wheat and fermented and non-fermented legumes, for the purpose of contributing with a healthy alternative for school snacks. To this aim, refined wheat flour was partially substituted with whole legume flours for the preparation of cakes, brownies and cookies, foodstuffs traditionally consumed by school age children. Cakes were formulated substituting 20% of wheat flour with Phaseolus vulgaris flour, brownies with 30% of Cajanus cajan flour and cookies with 30% of Vigna sinensis flour, using fermented and non-fermented legumes in the three products. When these products were subjected to sensorial evaluation through a test of degree of acceptability and using a hedonic scale of 7 points, values higher than 5 in the attributes taste, color and overall appraisal were found for all the products. In addition, the preference was measured with a group of 90 school children, corroborating the results obtained at laboratory level. Chemical characterization showed protein contents between 12 and 13% for the cake, 10 and 11% for the brownies and 10% for the cookies and protein digestibilities in vitro of 91%, 87% and 93%, respectively. The calorie supply, calculated per portion was of 199 kcal, 246 kcal and 237 kcal, for cakes, brownies and cookies, respectively. It was concluded that it is technically possible to incorporate fermented and non-fermented Phaseolus vulgaris, Vigna sinensis and Cajanus cajan, to highly consumed products such as cakes, brownies and cookies with a higher nutritional content and well-accepted by school-age children.     

Characterization of the acai or manaca (Euterpe oleracea Mart.): a fruit of the Amazon

The objective of this study was to determine the proximal composition, the fatty acid profile, the content of minerals, tannins, polyphenols, anthocyanins, the antioxidant capacity and the color of the acai pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart) collected in the Venezuelan Amazon from 2 harvests of the year 2005. For the proximal analysis, the official methods were used and the minerals were analyzed by the induced plasma technique. Polyphenols, tannins and anthocyanins were determined by spectrophotometric methods and the antioxidant capacity was analyzed by DPPH method. Results in dry basis indicated that acai has a high lipids content (49.4% and 33.1%), proteins (13.8% and 9.3%), ash (5.2% and 2.2%) and total dietary fiber (27.3% and 18.0%). It stands out that 71% of the acai fat is oleic acid and that the Fe content of the first and second harvest was 0.023 and 0.015 mg/100g, respectively; polyphenols 5.02 and 2.20 g/100 g; tannins 0.70 and 1.37 g/100g; anthocyanins 0.73 and 1.60 g/100g and the antioxidant capacity 88.03 and 87.87%, respectively. It is concluded that the acai or manaca collected in the Venezuelan Amazon has a high nutritional value and contains antioxidant compounds which suggests the need to industrialize it to take advantage to the maximum of its properties.     

Impact of solar dehydration on composition and antioxidant properties of acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.)

Commercial products derived from the acai fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) are available in Brazil, but in Venezuela, it is only known by ethnic indigenous groups of the Amazon. In this study, acai flour was made by solar dehydration and the effect of processing on the composition, microbiological quality, and antioxidant properties of such flour were evaluated. The fruit was purchased in Puerto Ayacucho, Venezuela, and a portion was manually pulped. Microbiological quality, proximal composition, minerals, polyphenols, tannins, anthocyanins, and antioxidant capacity were evaluated. The remaining portion of fruit was blanched in a solution of ascorbic acid and citric acid at 98 degrees C for 1 min in the same manner, manually pulped, dried by solar dehydration and the acai flour was also analysed. From the composition of the acai flour, its high content of fat (22.9%), protein (13.7%), dietary fibre (20.5%), total polyphenols (1.60 g/kg) and antioxidant capacity (79.97%) stood out. The blanching of the fruit and the solar dehydrating of the acai pulp did not modify the composition, but they improved its microbiological quality and reduced phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity. The flour obtained is stable and innocuous and could be used to diversify the diet of the indigenous people of the Amazon region.     

Supplementation of bakery items with high protein peanut flour

White skin peanuts were defatted with hexane to produce flours with 55–60% protein. The peanut flour was used to replace 12.5% of the wheat flour in bread, 100% of wheat flour in muffins, and 10, 15 or 50% of the wheat flour in cookies. At 12.5% levels of peanut flour, total solids, protein, moisture retention of bread after baking, and dietary fiber contents are increased without affecting loaf vol-ume. Crust color of supplemented bakery items is darker brown, texture is coarse for bread and harder in cookies, but not enough to make them unacceptable. Peanut flour muffins with a net protein content of 33–40% can serve as a high protein snack food or bakery item, possibly for patients with celiac disease who cannot tolerate wheat flour. Moisture retention in supplemented products was greater than in nonsupplemented controls. Net increase of protein in baked items varied from 4% increase for 12.5% peanut flour bread to 30% for the all-peanut flour muffins. Other physical and chemical prop-erties of these products are presented to support potential applica-tions of peanut flour as a supplement for selected food products.     

Preparation and application of potato flour with low gelatinization degree using flash drying

A novel processing method of potato flour with a low starch gelatinization degree was realized by flash drying technique. Starch gelatinization degree, pasting properties, thermal characteristics, and morphological features between commercial potato flours (commercial potato flake and commercial potato granule) and flash-dried potato flour were analyzed and compared. Results showed that the gelatinization degree of flash-dried potato flour (14.52%) was reduced by nearly 80% than the commercial potato flours (about 95%). Typical viscosity profile, enthalpy value, and morphology features of flash-dried potato flour were retained maximally through an optimized processing of flash drying. The gelatinization temperature and pasting viscosity of flash-dried potato flour were increased significantly than the commercial potato flour. Besides, the intact morphological structure of flash-dried potato flour granules were kept due to the processing of flash drying. By utilizing the low gelatinization degree of flash-dried potato flour, desirable potato noodles were prepared with the ratio of potato flour up to 50%. Textural characteristics and cooking performance such as broken rate and cooking loss of flash-dried potato noodles were superior to these of the commercial potato flours (in the same amount) added noodles.     

Effect of barley flour and freeze-thaw cycles on textural nutritional and functional properties of cookies

Studies were carried out on cookies prepared by incorporating barley flour (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) into wheat flour. The cookies were evaluated for their physical, chemical, nutritional, textural and sensory characteristics. All the cookie samples showed high fiber, mineral and protein contents when compared to those from 100% wheat flour. Incorporation of barley flour improved the color of the cookies from pale cream to golden brown. The cookies became crispier as indicated by the reduction in the breaking strength value from 4.94 to 3.29 kg. Considering the color, taste, flavor, surface appearance of the cookies, 30% incorporation of barley flour was found to be optimum giving cookies containing 1.7% β-glucan, 36.6 ppm iron, 31.8 ppm calcium, 22.9 ppm zinc while the texture characteristics showed that 30% barley incorporated cookies had breaking strength of 4.021 kg lower than wheat cookies and also indicating that the product was nutritionally rich as compared to the 100% wheat flour cookies. The incorporation of barley flour increased the antioxidant properties and polyphenolic content and hence increased functional properties of the cookies compared to the control. The prepared product was safe microbiologically as well as chemically upto 6 months of storage in different packaging materials under varying temperature conditions. The cookie dough contained 30% barley flour and 100% wheat flour (control) was allowed to under go frozen storage and freeze-thaw cycles (freeze for 12 h and thaw for 4 h). After each freeze-thaw cycle, cookie dough was evaluated for its texture profile and also dough was baked to prepare cookie and assessed for its physical, textural and sensory characteristics. It was found that cookies prepared after freeze-thawing of dough were crisper than the normal ones.     

Effects of flour sources on acrylamide formation and oil uptake in fried batters

Food batters were formulated using flours of long-grain rice, waxy rice, wheat, or corn. Acrylamide and oil analyses were conducted for the flour and the corresponding fried batter. During frying, the formation of acrylamide ranged from 82 ng/g for the long-grain rice batter to 263 ng/g for the corn batter. Oil uptake ranged from 21.4% for the long-grain rice batter to 47.3% for the wheat batter. The incorporation of 5% pregelatinized rice flour and 1.5–3.0% milk as functional additives into the long-grain rice batter only slightly increased the acrylamide and oil contents.     

Flour of hard bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the preparation of bread]

In order to utilize hardened beans, we proposed to find the method most indicated for the preparation of bean flour to determine their nutritional value, and to make bread of high industrial, nutritional quality, and good sensory characteristics, using blends of bean and wheat flours. Two types of flour were prepared, testing four soaking temperatures (22, 30, 40 and 50 degrees C) and two methods to remove the testa (under moist and dry conditions). At laboratory level, the dry testa removal method gave the best flour yields (mean = 85.8%) and the highest protein content (mean = 23.7%). Comparison between soaking temperature at 30 and 50 degrees C was not significant (alpha = 0.05). At pilot plant level, with soaking at 50 degrees C the flour yields were 58.0% for moist testa removal (H1) and 74.0% for dry removal (H2), with a protein content of 22.6% for H1 and 23.0% for H2. The H1 and H2 flours were added to wheat flour at 5, 10 and 15% for bread making. The addition of 5.0% gave breads with similar protein content and sensory characteristics to those of the control, wheat. A diet based on bean-flour bread resulted in greater weight gains than that with casein for gold hamsters. The study also demonstrated the importance of heat-treating of the bean flours, because when flour without previous heat treatment was administered, the animals lost weight and died. This effect was overcome by the process of baking the flours at 140 degrees C for four hours.     

Preparation of cookies with a flour mixture of wheat and green plantain

With the purpose of diversifying the use of green plantain flour, a functional evaluation was performed by substituting 7% of chocolate cookie wheat flour by dehydrated green plantain flour; thus allowing to obtain a product with good physical and organoleptic qualities, as well as a better nutritional quality, as for dietary fibre and resistant starch. As a result of the use of this dehydrated green plantain flour (G-HT/HPV), the values of some chemical components increased significantly (P 0.05 Pound) in comparison to the standard cookies (GP): ash (2.46 to 2.69%), proteins (8.93 to 9.69%), dietary fiber (4.97 to 5.40%), resistant starch (0.19 to 0.23%) and total sugar (25.26 to 30.55). The G-HT/HPV complies with the industrial requirements as for moisture (2.7300%), ph (8.43), aw (0.205) and color (L = 31.78; a = 7.95 and b = 10.51). Besides, thanks to the use of G-HT/HPV the flours scattering during the kneaded process was diminished, thus reducing the cookie diameter and increasing the resistance to breaking (1.48 to 2.06 Kgf), in comparison to the GP. While evaluating the shelf life for G-HT/HPV, it was demonstrated that was affected by moisture, pH, aw and acidity after the first month of storage. In the preference comparison test between the G-HT/HPV and a trademark cookie (GC), no significant differences were founded. Both were accepted and qualified between good and very good, as for sensorial features like colour, fragrance and taste. However, significant differences were detected in relation to texture, and they were corroborated in the texture profile analysis. In this test the panel staff, while evaluating both types of cookies demonstrated that there are 8 features that can be used to describe them: firm, crumble, crisp, mealy, soft, lumpy, particle size and chewy.     

Surfactants as replacements for natural lipids in bread baked from defatted wheat flour

Petroleum ether (PE) extracted 1.00% total free lipids (0.70% nonpolar and 0.30% polar) and 2-propanol (PrOH) extracted 1.36% total free and bound lipids (0.73% nonpolar and 0.63% polar) from wheat flour; the lipid fractions were characterized by thin layer chromatography. PE- or PrOH-defatted flours were baked after reconstitution with total, nonpolar, or polar wheat flour lipids; or with equivalent amounts of nonionic sucrose monopalmitate (SMP), ethoxylated monoglycerides (EMG) — each with a hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) of 14.0 or anionic sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL) — with an HLB value of 9.0. Defatted flours supplemented with surfactants alone or in combination with wheat flour lipids were used in bread with no-shortening and with 3%-shortening. The importance of the polar flour lipids in breadmaking was verified. The lipids in wheat flour were essential for maximizing the beneficial effects of shortening on breadmaking quality. Nonionic SMP or EMG completely replaced both PE-extractable wheat flour free total lipids ( or their non-polar or polar fractions) and 3% shortening; nonionic surfactants with high HLB were better than the anionic SSL for replacing free flour lipids. No surfactant completely replaced unfractionated PrOH-extracted lipids (free + bound) and shortening or total polar flour lipids (free + bound). All surfactants, especially anionic SSL, added with PrOH-extracted polar lipids improved the overall bread-making properties of the PrOH-defatted flour both in the absence and in the presence of shortening. Presented at the AOCS Meeting, New York, May 1977     

Functional characteristics of cowpea flours in foods

Functionality of legume flours as food ingredients is influenced by genetic and agronomic factors, storage, composition and processing. The processing of flour from dry cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) is a simpler technology than that utilized for oilseed flour production. A defatting step is not required because the crude fat content of cowpeas is low (∼1–2%); however, decortication (seed coat removal) is necessary if a light-colored flour is to be obtained from cultivars with dark testa or eyes. Process condition employed in the decortication of cowpeas and production of cowpea flour influence the quality of subsequent products made from the flour. Functionality of cowpea flour as an ingredient in wheat flour mixtures, akara and moin-moin (fried and steamed cowpea paste, respectively), extruded products and meat products will be reviewed. Presented at the 78th American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting, May 17–21, 1987, New Orleans, LA.     

Vorkommen bitterer Hydroxyfettsäuren in Hafer und Weizen

Occurrence of Bitter Hydroxy Fatty Acids in Oat and Wheat Water suspensions of oat, soft wheat, and durum wheat flours were incubated for 4.5 h at 38° C. Only the oat flour became intensely bitter. Freeze-dried samples of the incubated flours were analyzed for free hydroxy fatty acids with bitter taste. 750 μg/g L-OH (mixture of 9-hydroxy-trans, cis-10,12-octadecadienoic acid and 13-hydroxy-cis, trans-9,11-octadecadienoic acid) and 62 μg/g Tri-OH (mixture of 9,12,13-trihydroxy-trans-10-octadecenoic acid and 9,10,13-trihydroxy-trans-11-octadecenoic acid) were found in oat flour. Soft wheat flour contained the same amount of Tri-OH as oat flour but only 60 μg/g LOH were detected. Considerable less amounts of both L-OH and Tri-OH (20 μg/g and 15 μg/g respectively) were found in durum wheat flour. The bitter taste of oat flour which has been debittered by extraction of the lipids could be restored by addition of a mixture of 750 μg/g L-OH and 62 μg/g Tri-OH.     

Production and functional characteristics of protein concentrates

Protein concentrates derived from common dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) may improve world protein resources, reduce on-site preparation time and expense and provide improved nutrition. Several different methods have been studied for the production of these concentrates, including alkali extraction and isoelectric precipitation, ultrafiltration, air-classification and salt extraction under high salt concentrations. Recent studies using solid-solid dry roasting, pin milling and air-classification resulted in the following percent mass fractions: hull/fiber (10%), coarse/starch (70%) and fine/protein (20%). Results indicated that the protein fractions were approximately 45–50% protein, low in raffinose and stachyose and hadtrypsin inhibitor activity reduced to about half of that of raw beans. Nitrogen Solubility Index (NSI) ranged from 33–70% and was associated with the thermal conditions applied during dry roasting. The flours had a bland flavor without the bitter off-flavors which have traditionally limited the use of dry beans in formulated foods. Most minerals and phytic acid tended to be associated with protein flour; however, although iron may have been bound to phytic acid, its absorption by anemic rats was not hindered by the presence of endogenous phytic acid. These flours produced acceptable products when incorporated into cookies, doughnust, quick breads and leavened doughs. Presented at the 78th American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting, May 27–21, 1987, New Orleans, LA.     

Baking performance of palm diacylglycerol bakery fats and sensory evaluation of baked products

Baking performance of palm diacylglycerol (PDG)‐enriched fats was evaluated and compared with that of commercial bakery fats. PDG‐enriched shortenings were found to produce cakes with significantly (p<0.05) higher mean values for specific volume than that produced from commercial shortening. As for PDG‐enriched margarines, cookies prepared from PDG‐enriched margarines were found to have reduction in cookies spread as compared to that of commercial shortening. Nevertheless, this reduction was not statistically significant. Sensory evaluation of the baked products was also conducted. Both trained and untrained panelists rated cakes prepared from PDG‐enriched shortenings as having higher moistness, softer, and airier texture than that of commercial shortening. This is in agreement with findings from principal component analysis (PCA). As for cookies, both trained and untrained panelists rated cookies prepared from PDG‐enriched margarines as having softer texture and compactness compared to that prepared from commercial margarine.     

Evaluation of cookies enriched with corn germ and soy fiber

The objective of this study was to evaluate four cookie formulations which wheat flour was partially substituted by free-fat corn germ flour and/or soy fiber. Baking quality, protein, fat, ash, dietary fiber, hardness, color, Protein Efficiency Ratio PER and Apparent Digestibility in vivo were determined. A trained panel evaluated color, hardness and fracturability of cookies. Dietary fiber of cookies varied from 8.2 to 24.9% and protein from 11.3 to 12.7%. The source and amount of dietary fiber modified physical, sensory, and nutritional properties of cookies. Cookies formulated with 20% corn germ flour gave the highest PER, Digestibility Aparente in vivo, and acceptance by consumers. This study demonstrated the potential use of free-fat corn germ and soy fiber as functional ingredients.     

Use of low-grade potatoes in the production of whole flour for the preparation of foods for popular consumption

A whole flour potato obtention process was developed which could be used in semirural areas. The potato without peeling was previously washed and ground adding 100 p.p.m. of sodium bisulphite, then it was dehydrated in a cabinet tray dryer with an air flow circulation set at 70 degrees C using three different deep beds (10, 20 and 25 mm). Finally it was milled, sieved and packed in polyethylene Kraft bags and stored for 10 months at room temperature. Results showed that drying time increased less rapidly when the bed depth was increased, so that the overall dryer productivity increased when increasing bed depth. Nevertheless, a better-quality product was obtained, as well as a greater process efficiency when a 10 mm bed depth was used. The whole flour had a particle size of 80 mesh and a moisture and protein content of 7 and 6.7%, respectively. No brown color formation or mold growth occurred during storage. "Tamales de dulce" and chocolate cookies were made with the flour obtained. These were subjected to an acceptability test at community level, and the test revealed that for both products, such acceptability was higher than 90%.     

Handling properties of cereal materials in the presence of moisture and oil

A powder flow analyzer attached to a Texture Analyser (Stable Micro Systems, UK) was used to compare the flow behaviour of four cereals systems: maize and wheat (in both starch and flour forms), as functions of particle size and distribution, water content and the addition of different types of oil. It was expected that the smaller the particle size the higher the tendency to stick (because of less free volume between the particles), but that was not the case. The results showed that wheat starch used, with bigger particle size than maize starch, had higher cohesion properties and as water content increases the cohesion increases by the same magnitude. This was attributed to the differences in granular shape as well as protein quantity and quality. Caking strength for both starches was influenced by the water content; in particular at 30% water content (w/w), neither cohesion nor caking indices could be measured for wheat starch because of the high stickiness of the particles.Although the two flours had particles of very similar sizes, with differences in the distributions only, maize showed higher cohesion indices compared to wheat flour. These values decreased with increasing water content. The caking property for maize was not significantly affected by water content with values of approximately 100 ± 5. The caking strength increased for wheat flour from 8 to 500 as moisture increased from 12.5 to 30%. This was ascribed to the differences in hydration properties of the two flours. For wheat flour and as the water content increased, gluten started to form and would require more than 30% to form a homogenous, visco-elastic mass.Generally, cohesivity and cake forming ability were affected by water content as well as the physical state of the oil i.e. by the solid/liquid ratios. As water content increases, wheat starch showed the greatest packing and cohesive behaviour, with and without the oil, while maize flour exhibited the weakest packing and cohesive properties.     

Formulation and nutritive value of 2 milk substitutes based on sweet lupine (Lupinus albus, var. multolupa)

Two protein mixtures, A and B, based on sweet lupine, wheat flour and dried skim milk powder were formulated, bearing in mind the chemical and nutritional standards set by the National System of Health Services for protein mixtures used through the National Program of Complementary Feeding (PNAC) for preschool children. Both formulas contained 12% of sweet lupine flour, but they differed in their skim milk content, which was 15% in mixture A, and 10% in mixture B. Taking as reference value a content of 2% moisture, formula A contains 17.6% protein and mixture B, 16.4%, with a caloric content of 420 kcal/100 g for both of them. The amino acid score was 0.80 for both mixtures. The biological quality of the proteins of A and B, measured as protein efficiency ratio (PER), was 2.2 and 2.1, respectively. These values are not statistically different, although they are lower than the value of 2.5 obtained for casein (p less than 0.01).     

Peanut protein: A versatile food ingredient

Peanut flour has been evaluated for use in a variety of food products as a replacement for animal source proteins. In breakfast cereals and snack foods, peanut flour blends well with cereal flours to yield products with excellent flavor, texture, and color. Peanut flour can be used to produce textured vegetable protein or can be used directly in ground meats to provide good moisture and fat binding characteristics. In bakery products, peanut flour can be used at levels up to 20% to provide protein supplementation without the astringent flavor of other oilseed flours.