The present research work was carried out in order to evaluate the solubility capacity of
amaranth flour through the extrusion process in water at room temperature, to carry it out,
the pilot plant equipment of the University Center of the Southwest of the University of San
Carlos de Guatemala, located in Mazatenango Suchitepéquez. Amaranth flour as the raw
material of the research is rich in proteins, this makes it a functional food from the
nutritional point of view, the flour in its molecular structure is composed of 70% starch on
a dry basis (Bressani, 1989 ), characteristics that refer to a solubility of 34.60% (results
expressed as a percentage soluble in 100 grams), this directly depends on the opening
distance of the semicrystalline membrane formed by amylose and amylopectin that are
responsible for allowing the hydration of the molecule.
Due to its semi-crystalline structure, the flour presents lumps when mixed with water at
room temperature, this is due to the helical shape in which the molecules are branched. The
research used the water solubility index method (WSI water solubility index) and
determined that in a random sampling the nominal data for the solubility of the flour was
34.60 in percentage on 100 grams of sample for non-extruded flour. After several tests it
was established that using a temperature of 150 ° C, humidity between (15 – 19) % and
pressure of (21 – 25) kg / cm2
in the extruder, it was possible to increase the solubility of
the flour
