Chemical Characteristics and Pasting Properties of Commercial Slovak Common and Spelt Wheat Flours

The objective of this paper was to show differences among qualitative parameters of commercially produced Slovak fine and wholemeal wheat fl ours prepared from Triticum aestivum L. (common wheat) and Triticum aestivum ssp. Spelta L. (spelt wheat). The selected chemical parameters (protein, starch, ash, glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, pH, lactic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, calcium, iron and zinc), gluten characteristics (wet and dry gluten, extensibility of gluten and swelling of gluten) and pasting properties (pasting temperature, peak viscosity, hot paste viscosity, peak viscosity temperature and breakdown value) of flours were analysed. Spelt wheat wholemeal fl our produced in ecological system of farming differed from other commercially produced wheat fl ours mainly in ash (1.82 %), proteins (16.5 %), wet gluten (43.2 % in dry matter), minerals (Ca, Fe, Zn) and organic acids content. Maltose was found as the most predominate saccharide in the common wheat fi ne fl our (0.46 g/100g) and sucrose was prevalent in common and spelt wheat wholemeal flours (0.68 and 0.76 g/100g). It was also stated that commercially produced common wheat fi ne fl our was characterised by lower pasting temperature (59 °C), peak viscosity (575 BU) and breakdown value (210 BU) than common and spelt wheat wholemeal flours

Effect of hydrated apple powder on dough rheology and cookies quality

Dietary fiber is a group of food components, which are resistant to human enzymatic digestion. The incorporation of dietary fiber obtained from various sources of fruit and vegetable by-products into the cereal based products such as bread, rolls, cookies, muffins, crackers, cakes and pasta is of growing interest for the food industry. The replacement of wheat flour by dietary fiber from various sources can change physicochemical, textural and organoleptic characteristic of bakery products. Apple pomace is the main by-product produced in the apple fruit processing industry. It is a rich source of carbohydrate, pectin, crude fiber, and minerals. The dietary fiber content in apple pomace ranges between 33 - 35%. The influence of hydrated commercial dietary fiber on wheat dough rheology (5, 10 and 15% flour replacement) and physical and sensory properties of cookies was examined. It was found that addition of HAP significantly increased the rheological properties of dough such as water absorption (from 58.0% to 75.3%), dough stability (from 6.7 min to 11.6 min) and prolonged dough development time (from 3.5 min to 11.0 min) and reduced the mixing tolerance index (from 34.7 BU to 11.9 BU). It was also concluded that hydrated apple powder addition reduced physical properties of cookies such as volume (from 10.4 cm3 to 8.0 cm3), diameter (from 4.7 cm to 4.2 cm), volume index (from 1.35 cm to 1.10 cm) and porosity (from 0.32 to 0.24). Sensory properties (taste, odour, stickiness, firmness and density) of cookies were also analysed. Cookies with addition of hydrated apple powder had fruity taste and odour and showed high overall acceptance. From this study resulted that hydrated apple powder can be used as potentially source of dietary fiber in cookie formulation. Moreover, addition of apple pomace inhibits the use of any other flavouring ingredients because has a pleasant fruity flavour

Rheological and qualitative characteristics of pea flour incorporated cracker biscuits

The suitability of pea flour for cracker biscuits production was investigated in this study. Pea flour was characterised by high protein (21.46 %) and ash (3.11 %) content and exhibited relatively high emulsifying (37.50 ml/100 ml) and foaming (53.50 ml/100 ml) capacity. The effect of pea flour incorporation to wheat dough (substitution levels 0, 10, 20 and 30 %) on the rheological properties, physical characteristics and sensory parameters of cracker biscuits were also evaluated. Farinographic measurements showed that pea flour addition resulted in increasing of water absorption (from 58.90 to 61.80 %) and dough development time (from 3.55 to 4.50 min), whereas dough stability was decreased (from 6.69 to 3.50 min). It was also found that incorporation of pea flour to cracker biscuits modified physical properties of final products by different ways (decreasing of volume index, width and spread ratio, increasing of thickness). From the sensory evaluation revealed that cracker biscuits prepared from blend flour contained 10 % pea flour showed no significant differences from wheat cracker biscuits. Higher levels of pea flour in the products adversely affected the odour, taste, firmness, colour and overall acceptance of final products

Dietary fiber: defintion, sources and extraction

The interest in food rich in dietary fiber increased in the recent decades, and the importance of this food constituent has led to the development of a large market for fibre-rich products and ingredients. A high dietary fiber intake has been related to several physiological and metabolic effects. By-products of plant food processing represent a major disposal problem for the industry concerned, but they are also promising sources of compounds which may be used because of their favourable technological or nutritional properties. Soluble dietary fiber is those components that are soluble in water and includes pectic substances and hydrocolloids. Good sources of soluble fibers include fruits, vegetables, legumes, soybeans, psyllium seeds and oat bran. Insoluble dietary fiber is those components that are insoluble in water and includes cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Whole grains are good sources of insoluble fiber. Comercialize fibre product have to perform some characteristic properties

Staling of bakery products

The aim of this work was to write down a review article about various aspects connected with staling of bakery products. Shelf life is directly associated with the staling process, which depends on the composition of bakery products and important are storage conditions as well. In the article are described particular components (starch, nonstarch polysacharides, water ) and how they affect the staling process. Generally during staling of bakery products occur  processes related with starch retrogradation, moisture redistribution from the crumb to the crust and other interactions between components. Staling process could be delayed by using various bakery improvers like enzymes, hydrocolloids, emulgators and other compounds. Also useful is the application of suitable packaging techniques

Effect of chickpea and pea flour addition on the qualitative and sensory parameters of bakery products

The purpose of this study was to determine chemical composition and functional properties of legume flours (chickpea, pea) and fine wheat flour. The effect of chickpea and pea flour incorporation at different levels (10, 20, 30 % w/w) on the qualitative parameters and sensory characteristics of bakery product was also investigated. It can be concluded, that incorporation of leguminous flours led to changes of the investigated qualitative and sensory parameters, especially in samples with higher amount of leguminous flour (20 and 30 %). Results showed, that a proper alternative to standard bakery products  are products with 10 % portion of leguminous flour

The Chemical Composition of Grape Fibre

Dietary fibres from cereals are much more used than dietary fibres from fruits; however, dietary fibres from fruits have better quality. In recent years, for economic and environmental reasons, there has been a growing pressure to recover and exploit food wastes. Grape fibre is used to fortify baked goods, because the fibre can lower blood sugar, cut cholesterol and may even prevent colon cancer. Grape pomace is a functional ingredient in bakery goods to increase total phenolic content and dietary fibre in nourishment. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition of commercial fibres, obtained from different Grape sources concerning their chemical properties such as moisture, ash, fat, protein, total dietary fibre. The chemical composition of Grape fibre is known to vary depending on the Grape cultivar, growth climates, and processing conditions. The obliged characteristics of the fibre product are: total dietary fibre content above 50%, moisture lower than 9%, low content of lipids, a low energy value and neutral flavour and taste. Grape pomace represents a rich source of various high-value products such as ethanol, tartrates and malates, citric acid, Grape seed oil, hydrocolloids and dietary fibre. Used commercial Grape fibres have as a main characteristic, the high content of total dietary fibre. Amount of total dietary fibre depends on the variety of Grapes. Total dietary fibre content (TDF) in our samples of Grape fibre varied from 56.8% to 83.6%. There were also determined low contents of moisture (below 9%). In the samples of Grape fibre were determined higher amount of protein (8.6 - 10.8%), mineral (1.3 - 3.8%) and fat (2.8 - 8.6%). This fact opens the possibility of using both initial by-products as ingredients in the food industry, due to the effects associated with the high total dietary fibre content

Utilization of citrus crops processing by-products in the preparation of tarhana

After processing of citrus fruits (e.g. lemon, orange, grapefruit, mandarin) for juice and essential oils production, approximately 50% of the original fruit mass is left as waste material. Citrus crops processing by-products are valuable components as they contain nutrients such as pectins, saccharides, carotenoids, some vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and substances with antioxidant activity. Utilisation of these kind of side products in the recipe of various cereal product led to enhancement of final product nutritional value and better sensory attributes as well as improvement of product functional properties. In this work was studied the effect of orange and mandarin dietary fibre application at level 5 and 10% (w/w) in tarhana preparation and the influence on tarhana fermentation process. Chemical analysis showed, that dietary fibre preparations reached higher concentration of ash, fat and total dietary fibre compared to wheat flour. Wheat flour exhibited higher moisture content and protein concentration than citrus dietary fibre preparations. Orange and mandarin dietary fibre preparations showed higher values of water and oil absorption capacity, swelling capacity and least gellation concentration compared to wheat flour. Application of fruit dietary fibre preparations to tarhana recipe caused a rapid decrease in pH from 4.70 - 5.02 to values 4.31 - 4.51 during fermentation process. Reducing saccharides served as an available source of energy for fermenting microbiota and their concentration decreased from 24.5 - 32.8 to 2.2 - 0.2 g/kg after 144 h incubation. Fermentation also led to lactic acid (1.67 - 2.09 g/kg) and acetic acid (1.91 - 2.53 g/kg) production as a consequence of present microorganisms metabolic activity. Sensory evaluation of samples showed, that higher proportion of citrus dietary fibre preparations (10%) negatively affected taste, odour, consistency and sourness. Among all prepared tarhana samples with proportion of citrus dietary fibre preparation was the most acceptable tarhana with 5% of mandarin dietary fibre

The influence of Lactobacillus paracasei LPC-37 on selected properties of fermented sausages

Fermented sausages rank among non-heat-treated meat products. Their nutritional properties are similar to the raw material, simultaneously their microbial safety and stability is ensured using additives and specific microbial cultures. The use of probiotic cultures can positively affect the processing of fermented sausages, resulting in the new technological properties and beneficial effect on human health. However, commercial application of probiotic microorganisms in fermented sausages is not common yet. Lactobacillus paracasei LPC-37 is a gram-positive, non-spore forming, homofermentative rod, which according to studies may modulate immune responses in human organism and survives the passage through the gastrointestinal tract. The main object of this work was to evaluate technological properties of L. paracasei LPC-37, which have not been fully examined. Two groups of fermented sausages were analysed in this work. The first group of fermented sausages was prepared using lyophilized starter culture (Lyocarni RHM-33). The second group of fermented sausages was prepared by the combination of lyophilized starter culture and potential probiotic culture Lactobacillus paracasei LPC-37. The processing and ripening of sausages were carried out in meat processing plant to simulate real conditions of production. The changes of the products (water activity, pH, concentration of organic acids and microbial growth) were evaluated during ripening (3 weeks), while sensory analysis was carried out in the final stage of the process and during storage (3 weeks). It was found that the environment of raw-fermented sausages is suitable for the growth and survival of Lactobacillus paracasei LPC-37 and the microbiological quality of the final product was very good (absence of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes). The counts of lactobacilli reached 107 CFU/g of the product, which meet the requirements for functional foods. The results of the sensory evaluation showed that the overall quality of raw-fermented sausages with Lactobacillus paracasei LPC-37 was satisfactory and differed mainly in two taste descriptors (meaty and sour)

Evaluation and comparison of the content of total polyphenols and antioxidant activity in onion, garlic and leek

Onion, leek and garlic as onion family are a great source of freely available health-promoting and chemoprotective compounds (polyphenols, flavonoids, fructooligosaccharides, thiosulfinates and other sulfur compounds, vitamins). Chemoprotective compounds belong between natural components. Onion, garlic and leek have high nutritional value. They are an important component of our human diet and we used them as a preventive factor for many diseases of civilization (cancer, coronary heart diseases, and atherosclerosis). In this work we watched and evaluated content of total polyphenols and antioxidant activity in onion, garlic and leek. Samples of plant material (onion, garlic and leek) we collected at the stage of full maturity in the area of Pružina. Pružina is area without negative influences and emission sources. Samples of fresh onion, garlic and leek were homogenized and were prepared an extract: 25 g cut onion, garlic and leek extracted by 50 ml 80% ethanol accourding sixteen hours. These extracts were used for analyses. The content of the total polyphenols was determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (FCR). Antioxidant activity was measured by using a compound DPPH (2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl). In the present experiment it was detected, that total polyphenols content in samples ranges from 210.67 mg/kg (leek) - 429.58 mg/kg (onion). Statistically significant highest value of total polyphenols was recorded in onion (389.64 to 429.58 mg/kg). Statistically significant the lowest content of total polyphenols was recorded in leek (210.67 - 254.80 mg/kg). Another indicator that has been evaluated and compared was the antioxidant activity of onion, garlic and leek. Statistically significant highest value of antioxidant activity was recorded in onion (20.22 - 25.76%). Statistically significant the lowest value of antioxidant activity was recorded in garlic (4.05 - 5.07%). Based on the measured values of AOA in onion, garlic and leek samples can be classified as follows: onion (20.22 - 25.76%) > leek (8.55 - 12.92%) > garlic (4.05 - 5.07%)