Development Of Structurally Enhanced Air-Dried Rice Flour-Soy Protein Isolate Noodles

Rice flour noodle is gluten-free, with excellent nutritional properties, but the lack of the functionality of forming a continuous visco-elastic dough contributes to rice flour noodles' poor texture. Fresh rice noodles have a short shelf life and are prone to spoilage due to high moisture content. However, air-dried rice noodles have been reported to shrink while processed and have poor rehydration characteristics. This research aimed to develop a structurally enhanced air-dried rice flour-soy protein isolate noodle. Firstly, fresh rice flour-soy protein isolate noodles (RNS) were developed to match those of yellow alkaline noodles (YAN) by incorporating microbial transglutaminase (RNS-MTG), glucono-δ- lactone (RNS-GDL), and both MTG and GDL into the RNS noodles (RNS-COM). After that, the central composite design of response surface methodology was employed to optimize the inclusion of soy protein isolate (SPI), microbial transglutaminase (MTG), and glucono-δ-lactone (GDL), after which sensory evaluation was carried out. This was followed by investigating the effects of steaming for 5 (S5) or 10 (S 10) min during the preparation of air-dried RNS-COM-S5 and RNS-COM-S10, respectively. Next, RNS-COM was dried using superheated steam (SHS) to yield RNS-COM-SHS. The formation of γ-glutamyl-lysine bonds in RNS-COM and RNS-MTG was shown by Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis analysis. Scanning Electron Microscope showed that compared to others, the structure of RNS-COM was denser, smoother with extensive apparent interconnectivity of aggregates

Innovative Application of Soy Protein Isolate and Combined Crosslinking Technologies to Enhance the Structure of Gluten-Free Rice Noodles

Soy protein isolate (SPI) may serve as a health-enhancing functional ingredient in many food products due to the content of isoflavones. However, the high protein content may also be exploited as a structure modifier in gluten-free noodles. We applied Soy protein isolate to improve rice flour noodles’ structure, textural, and cooking properties by combining cross-linking and cold gelation of soy protein isolate using microbial transglutaminase and glucono-δ-lactone, respectively. The simultaneous cross-linking yielded noodles with improved structure and textural properties, mainly due to a more robust microstructure resulting from an increase in intermolecular protein cross-linking promoted by microbial transglutaminase and glucono-δ-lactone. However, the structurally enhanced noodles showed longer cooking time and reduced cooking yield upon drying. This was solved by employing pre-drying steaming treatments for 5 or 10 min to yield noodles with shorter cooking times, lower cooking losses, and improved cooking yield. We have also developed an alternative process technology using superheated steam (SHS) technology. The superheated steam technology made it possible to open up the structurally enhanced air-dried noodles by promoting faster gelatinization, as evidenced by reduced enthalpy, increased cooking yield, and sustained crystallinity of the starch granules noodle matrix

Colour analysis of syrup from malted and unmalted rice of different varieties

The colour of rice syrup produced from flours of malted and unmalted rice of different varieties treated with a combination of starch hydrolyzing enzymes were analysed using CIE-LAB Spectrophotometric colorimeter after being filtered and/or centrifuged. The resulting syrups were processed as filtered unmalted hydrolyzed rice (FUHR), filtered malted hydrolyzed rice (FMHR), centrifuged unmalted hydrolyzed rice (CUHR) and centrifuged malted hydrolyzed rice (CMHR). Results showed that L* ranged from 60.16 to 68.57, a* ranged from 10.49 to 11.13 and b* ranged from 55.34 to 64.56. The magnitude of the colour values was an indication of the intensity of the rice syrup colour. Hue angle (oH*) ranged from 79.08o to 80.36o indicating less yellow in the CIE-LAB colour space and brown colour spectrum in the visible region of opponent colour chart. Total colour difference (ΔE) of syrups ranged from 0.50 to 1.72 for ΔEunmalted while ΔEmalted ranged from 0.49 to 1.76. However, the ΔEfiltered ranged from 5.89 to 11.19 while ΔEcentrifuged ranged from 5.54 to 9.47 indicating that filtration and centrifugation contributed to non-significant difference (p>0.05) in colour attributes (ΔE) of the rice syrup, whereas very distinct colour difference (ΔE) was observed between rice syrups from malted and unmalted samples

Infant-carrying techniques: which is a preferred mother-friendly method?

Infant carrying is still trendy among African mothers than in other climes, however, carrying techniques vary mostly along cultural divides. Using a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design, the authors evaluated the effect of three types of infant-carrying techniques on cardiopulmonary function, metabolic expenditure, fatigue demand, and locomotion. Front wrap infant-carrying technique led to a marginally higher cardiopulmonary demand. Hip sling technique resulted in greater metabolic expenditure and oxygen consumption with high rate of perceived exertion, while back wrap technique did not significantly decrease locomotion parameters. The authors recommend back wrap infant carrying technique based on its slightly lower effects on cardiopulmonary function, metabolic expenditure, fatigue demand, and locomotion