Agnieszka Makowska

APPLICATION OF OAT, WHEAT AND RYE BRAN TO MODIFY NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES, PHYSICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTRUDED CORN SNACKS

BACKGROUND Cereal products constitute the basis of the diet pyramid. While the consumption of such products as bread decreases, the group of food which popularity increase is cereal snacks. Unfortunately, the dietary value of this group of foodstuffs is limited. Thus, different types of cereal bran may be added to the produced snacks to enhance their nutritive value. However, an addition of bran may have an adverse effect on quality attributes of products. METHODS Corn grits enriched with 20 and 40% oat, wheat and rye bran was extruded. Basic parameters determining the nutritive value, physical characteristics and sensory attributes of the six produced types of extrudates were measured and compared. Moreover, the effect of additives applied on viscosity of aqueous suspensions of the raw materials and extrudates under controlled conditions was measured using RVA. RESULTS The dietary value of snacks containing bran depends on the type and quantitative shares of the additives. The content of dietary fibre in produced extrudates ranged from 6.5 to 15.8%, including soluble dietary fibre at 2.1 to 3.7%. With an increase of bran content in extrudates, their expansion decreased, density increased and the colour of extrudates changed (reduced brightness, increased a*, decreased b*). In sensory evaluation the highest acceptability was given to extrudates with a 20% addition of oat bran, while the lowest was given for those with 40% wheat bran. Based on PCA results positive correlations were found between overall desirability and crispiness, porosity, taste, colour and expansion. Negative correlations between desirability and hardness and density of extrudates were observed. The additives and their level also had an effect on changes in viscosity of aqueous suspensions measured using RVA. However, no correlation was found between quality features of extrudates and values of attributes measured in the analysis of viscosity. CONCLUSIONS In the production of corn extruded snacks an addition of oat, wheat and rye bran may be applied up to 20%. Such products have adequate sensory and dietary quality. The Critical Paste Test (Whalen et al., 1996) is not applicable in the evaluation of suitability of the corn raw material with an addition of oat, wheat and rye bran to produce extrudates.

Pasta Fortified with Potato Juice: Structure, Quality, and Consumer Acceptance

The potential of potato juice in relieving gastrointestinal disorders has already been proven. Work continues on implementation of this active component into products that are widely consumed. In this article, results of an attempt to fortify pasta with potato juice are presented and discussed. Fortification is performed using fresh and dried juice. The influence of the addition on culinary properties of the final product, such as cooking weight and cooking loss, as well as microstructure, color, texture, and consumer acceptance were evaluated. It was found that potato juice can be used for fortification of pasta both in its fresh and dried forms, however the effects on different responses depend on the potato juice form used. The addition of potato juice influenced the color of the product reducing its lightness and shifting color balances from green to red, yellow color saturation was decreased as well. Changes in color were more significant in the case of fresh juice addition. The firmness and microstructure of pasta was also influenced. The surface microstructure of pasta containing fresh potato juice was different from that of the other 2 products being a likely explanation of the lower cooking loss observed in its case. In contrast, the consistency of dough was strengthened by addition of dried potato juice. Principal components analysis indicated that the color change had the most pronounced effect on consumer acceptance. Other physicochemical changes were slightly less significant. Nevertheless, sensory evaluation proved that functional pasta produced with fresh potato juice finds consumer acceptance comparable with that of classic pasta.