Changes in the physicochemical properties of wheat, sago, tapioca and potato starches were studied
after heating for 1 hour at 100oC, 110oC, and 120oC and for 2 hours at 120oC. These properties were characterised through the swelling behaviour of starch granules, amount of carbohydrate materials leached from the granules, starch paste retrogradation rate and gel strength. For all starches except wheat, the swelling ability, rate of retrogradation and gel strength decreased while solubility increased with increasing temperature and heating time. Wheat starch followed this pattern only when heated at 120oC for 1 and 2 hours. Gel strength correlated well with the ratio of amylose to amylopectin (R) in the leachate. To produce fried crackers with good expansion properties, the granule has to be sufficiently degraded so as to allow more amylopectin to be leached out to achieve R value of 0.25-0.5. This can be achieved by heating wheat starch at 120oC for 1 hour or longer.
Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) seeds have always being wasted as agricultural waste. Recent studies revealed that the seeds contain high fiber. The purpose of this study is to develop defatted kenaf seeds yellow noodles (DKSY) and assess the nutritional and physicohemical properties of the noodles. Defatted kenaf flour at 25% and 75% were used to make DKSY noodles and compared to wheat yellow noodles (Control). Fresh DKSY noodles were analyzed for their nutritional and physiochemical properties. The ash and fiber contents increased in order of Control > 25% DKSY > 75% DKSY noodles. While total phenolic contents (TPC) was found to be higher in 75% DKSY noodles (138.30 ± 1.63 mg GAE/100 g) than Control noodles. Colour (L, b) and hardness decreased in order of Control > 25% DKSY > 75% DKSY indicating that DKSY noodles developed less quality than Control noodles. However, cooking loss values were found to be in the same order while cooking values exist in the opposite order indicating that. DKSY noodles have better noodle cooking quality. In conclusion, nutritional properties and noodle cooking quality of yellow noodles increased with higher concentration of defatted kenaf flour but the physicochemical properties were compromised. More research needs to be done in order to develop a formulation that can increase all of the attributes studied.
Proximate composition, pH and amylose content of ripe Cavendish banana flour (RBF) prepared in this study were compared with all-purpose wheat flour (WF). RBF was found to be significantly (P < 0.05) higher in total carbohydrates and minerals content, while significantly (P < 0.05) lower in protein and fat contents compared with those of WF. Wheat-ripe banana composite flours (W-RBF) prepared by partial substitution of WF with RBF were assessed for swelling power, solubility, pasting properties and gel textural properties. Granular swelling of RBF occurred at a higher temperature compared to that of WF, suggesting that more energy and water were required to cook WF-RBF as the presence of soluble carbohydrates would compete for water and this would eventually delay starch hydration and granular expansion during cooking. Higher substitution with RBF led to higher soluble carbohydrates content, and increase in solubility index of WF-RBF. Partial substitution with RBF also resulted in significant (P < 0.05) decrease in pasting properties. A higher substitution of WF with RBF could reduce starch gelatinisation during cooking and retrogradation owing to the reduction of available starch in WF-RBF. All WF-RBF gels were significantly (P < 0.05) firmer and less sticky compared to WF gels.
Food and fuel prices have soared in recent years affecting most adversely the poor and those with fixed incomes. Since 2000, wheat price in the international market has more than tripled and maize prices have more than doubled. The price of rice, the staple of billions in Asia, has tripled in the past year. The surge of food prices has been blamed on multiple factors including higher energy and fertilizer costs, greater global demand, drought, the loss of arable land to biofuel crops and price speculation. In light of the spiraling rise in food prices, there is the prospect of increasing rates of under-nutrition worldwide. As it is, 800 million are estimated to be suffering from chronic malnourishment, with another 2.1 billion people living close to subsistence levels on less than US$2 a day. Some perspectives of the food production experience of Malaysia are shared here as a case of a country that has built up capabilities and resources through high level of foreign and domestic investment leading to a diversified economy. In response to the recent surge in the price of rice, the Malaysian government announced the setting up of a dedicated fund amounting to US$1.25 billion to increase production of food including fruits and vegetables, and targeting 100% self-sufficiency in rice, by growing rice on a massive scale in Sarawak. During the current five-year development plan for the period of 2006-2010, (Ninth Malaysia Plan), the role of the agriculture sector is considerably enhanced to be the third pillar of economic growth, after manufacturing and services. Among the measures taken, are those aimed at increasing incomes of smallholders and fishermen mainly through improving productivity. These measures include encouraging more rice farmers to participate in mini-estates and group farming, providing financial assistance to rehabilitate cocoa, pepper and sago smallholdings, enhancing the capabilities of coastal fishermen, and setting up of a special program to assist poor households in the agriculture sector to diversify their sources of income. The various socio-economic programs in Malaysia that have been put in place over the years may have cushioned to some extent so far the severity of the dramatic hikes in food prices.
Proximate compositions, culinary and sensory properties of noodles prepared from proportionate combinations of breadfruit starch and wheat flour were investigated. Breadfruit starch (BS) isolated from matured breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) was used to produce noodles in combination with hard red wheat flour (WF) at a ratio of 100% WF:0% BS, 80% WF:20% BS, 60% WF:40% BS, 40% WF:60% BS, 20% WF:80% BS. The protein, fat, ash, crude fibre and moisture contents of the Breadfruit starch-Wheat flour (BSWF) noodles prepared from the above blends ranged from 0.65 to 10.88%, 0.35 to 3.15%, 1.28 to 2.25%, 1.18 to 1.45% and 4.65 to 5.45%, respectively. The contents of protein, fat, ash and crude fibre increased as the percentage breadfruit starch decreased. However, values of moisture content did not follow the same trend, instead higher values were found for 100% BS:0% WF (5.35%) and 20% BS:80% WF (5.45%). The cooking yield of the BSWF noodles ranged from 21.02 (60% BS:40% WF) to 23.75 g (100% BS:0% WF), cooking loss ranged from 5.49 (20% BS:80% WF) to 9.19% (100% BS:0% WF), while swelling index ranged from 3.1 (20% BS:80% WF) to 3.4 (100% BS:0% WF). Throughout the study, noodles produced from blends of 20% breadfruit starch and 80% wheat flour showed superior proximate, culinary and sensory attributes.
Discovery of novel dietary fibre (DF)-rich food ingredient is of great interest to meet the rising consumer demand for healthy food. Intake of DF-enriched food has been positively associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases. Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC), one of the prominent edible mushrooms widely cultivated in Malaysia, is useful for its culinary and medicinal purpose. This study aimed to determine the nutritional, physical, colour and sensorial properties of cinnamon biscuit formulated with PSC powder as partial replacement (0, 4, 8 and 12%) for wheat flour. Results indicated that elevated incorporation levels of PSC powder significantly (P
There is an increasing demand for fibre rich food and food ingredients. In this study, pumpkin pulp, unripe banana pulp, unripe mango pulp and peel which are high in dietary fibre were processed into flour and substituted at 5% level for wheat flour in a composite flour crackers formulation. The control crackers comprised of 100% wheat flour. Sensory evaluation was conducted using a 9-point hedonic scale with 31 panelists evaluating the crackers based on colour, crrispiness, taste and overall acceptance. Different types of composite flour crackers were not significantly different (p≤0.05) in term of crispiness. For colour, taste and overall acceptance, the pumpkin, banana and control crackers differ significantly (p≤0.05) with the mango pulp and mango peel crackers.
Biscuit is a popular food product where it is produced using wheat flour, sugar and fat as its main ingredients. Wheat flour is the major material used in biscuit production and within the flour starch is the principal component. The details of starch properties such as pasting properties, gelatinisation properties, crystallinity were discussed in this review. Starch is the major structural element in many foods, with the fat or sugar also playing key roles. Sugar gives sweetness, colour, add volumes and influence the texture of a biscuit. Besides that, it shows significant impact on starch gelatinization properties. Fat plays an important role in biscuit production and the type of fat used determines the quality of the final product. In this article, the functional properties of major ingredients of biscuit were also reviewed with emphasis on wheat flour, sugar and fat.
The effects of food gums addition on wheat dough freeze-thaw and frozen storage stability were studied. Thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of frozen wheat dough without yeast addition were
determined by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA).
DSC results revealed that food gums showed the ability to increase freeze-thaw stability in frozen-stored
samples wherein lower difference in melting enthalpy between first and second freeze-thaw cycle was shown. Based on DMA results, in general, difference between Tg’ and storage temperature (- 18°C) of dough became smaller upon addition of food gums. This may have a practical implication whereby the unfrozen phase could be better protected against physical degradation.
A simple analytical method for the determination of propionic acid and propionates in bakery products using a simple sample preparation procedure is described. The method involves the conversion of propionates to the non-ionized molecular form by adding glacial acetic acid, which is at the same time efficiently extracted into dichloromethane. After vortexing for 1 min, the extract was directly injected into a capillary gas chromatographic column with flame ionization detector. The method was applied for the determination of propionates in 112 commercial bakery samples. The levels of propionic acid plus propionates in bread, cake/ rolls, burger/hot dog buns and pita breads ranged from 197-1273, 98-1846, 546-1932 and 479-1680 µg mL -1 , respectively. No propionate was detected in any of the 36 biscuit samples analyzed.
Dough mixing and thermal properties including the pasting profiles of various commercial wheat flour (WF)-banana pseudostem flour (BP)-hydrocolloid blends were determined using a farinograph, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and a rapid-visco analyser (RVA). The prepared blends were WF, WF substituted with 10% BP (10BP) and 10BP with added 0.8% w/w (flour weight basis) xanthan gum (XG) or sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) (10BPX and 10BPC, respectively). The dough of 10BP and the doughs containing XG or CMC reduced stability and breakdown time compared with the WF dough. All dough containing BP demonstrated greater water absorption and mixing tolerance index values than the WF dough. The substitution of 10% BP into WF and the addition of hydrocolloids did not significantly affect the conclusion temperature (Tc) of the mixture, but did increased the onset temperature (To), peak temperature (Tp) and decreased the gelatinisation enthalpy change (ΔHg) of the blends. Samples of 10BP, 10BPX and 10BPC significantly decreased (p
Understanding the impacts of climate change on crop yield is important for improving crop growth and yield formation in northwestern China. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between meteorological dryness/wetness conditions and spring wheat yield in the Ili river basin (IRB). The climate and yield data from 1961 to 2013 were collected to analyze characteristics and correlations between these two variables using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), yield detrending method, modified Mann-Kendall test and Spearman correlation analysis. Main results were as follows: (1) correlations between monthly SPEI values (MSV) and climatic yield of spring wheat indicated that the dryness/wetness condition in May was a key factor affecting yield in the whole region; (2) although the MSV in May and yield fluctuated from negative to positive values in time, the severely and extremely dryness events were in good agreement with the higher yield losses; (3) each increase of 0.5 MSV in May promoted over 3% increase of yield in most part of IRB; however, the larger variability of MSV in May resulted in larger yield fluctuations; and (4) the Tibetan Plateau index in April showed significant correlations with the MSV in May and yield, which provided a precursory signal for decision-makers to better understand potential yield fluctuations.
Sponge cake prepared by partial substitution of wheat flour with mango pulp and mango peel flours (MPuF and MPeF, respectively) at different concentrations (control, 5%, 10%, 20% or 30%) were investigated for the physico-chemical, nutritional and organoleptic characteristics. Results showed sponge cake incorporated with MPuF and MPeF to have high dietary fiber with low fat, calorie, hydrolysis and predicted glycemic index compared with the control. Increasing the levels of MPuF and MPeF in sponge cake had significant impact on the volume, firmness and color. Sensory evaluation showed sponge cake formulated with 10% MPuF and 10% MPeF to be the most acceptable. MPeF and MPuF have high potential as fiber-rich ingredients and can be utilized in the preparation of cake and other bakery products to improve the nutritional qualities.
Yellow alkaline noodles (YAN) prepared by partial substitution of wheat flour with soy protein isolate and treated with microbial transglutaminase (MTG) and ribose were investigated during cooking. Cooking caused an increase in lightness but a decrease in redness and yellowness, pH, tensile strength and elasticity values of noodles. The extents of these changes were influenced by formulation and cross-linking treatments. The pH and lightness for YAN-ribose were lowest but the yellowness and redness were the highest whilst the tensile strength and elasticity values remained moderate. For YAN-MTG, the color and pH values were moderate, but tensile strength and elasticity values were the highest. YAN prepared with both cross-linking agents had physical values between YAN-ribose and YAN-MTG. Although certain sensory parameters showed differences in score, the overall acceptability of all 10-min-cooked YAN was similar. It is possible to employ cross-linking agents to improve physical properties of cooked YAN.
Species of the genus Ganoderma are a cosmopolitan wood decaying white rot fungi, which has been used by the Asians for therapeutic purposes for centuries. In the present study, solid-substrate fermentation (SSF) of wheat grains (Triticum aestivum L.) was carried out with indigenous Ganoderma australe (KUM60813) and G. neo-japonicum (KUM61076) selected based on ethnomycological knowledge. G. lucidum (VITA GL) (a commercial strain) was also included in the study. Antioxidant activities of the crude ethanol and aqueous extracts of the fermented and unfermented wheat grains were investigated by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging ability, and lipid peroxidation assay. Among the six mycelia extracts tested, the ethanol extract from wheat fermented with KUM61076 mycelia showed the most potent antioxidant activities, whereas the ethanol extract of wheat grains fermented with KUM60813 mycelia has a good potential in protecting frying oils against oxidation. Total phenolic content (TPC) in the ethanol extracts were higher than that in the aqueous extract. The wheat grains fermented with G. australe (KUM60813) and G. neo-japonicum KUM61076 have greater antioxidant potential compared to the commercially available G. lucidum (VITA GL). The antioxidant activities of the mycelia extracts had a positive correlation with their phenolic contents. Thus phenolic compounds may play a vital role in the antioxidant activities of the selected Ganoderma spp.
The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant properties of wheat and rice flours under simulated gastrointestinal pH condition. After subjecting the wheat and rice flour slurries to simulated gastrointestinal pH condition, both slurries were centrifuged to obtain the crude phenolic extracts for further analyses. Extraction yield, total contents of phenolic and flavonoids were determined as such (untreated) and under simulated gastrointestinal pH condition (treated). 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH(•)) scavenging activity, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical cation (ABTS(•+)) scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), beta-carotene bleaching (BCB) and iron chelating activity assays were employed for the determination of antioxidant activity of the tested samples. In almost all of the assays performed, significant improvements in antioxidant properties (p < 0.05) were observed in both flours after treatment, suggesting that wheat and rice flours contain considerably heavy amounts of bound phenolics, and that their antioxidant properties might be improved under gastrointestinal digestive conditions.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical, physicochemical, and functional properties of agrowastes derived from okara ( Glycine max), corn cob ( Zea mays sp.), wheat straw ( Triticum sp.), and rice husk ( Oryza sativa) for potential applications in foods. The fibrous materials (FM) were treated with alkali to yield fibrous residues (FR). Rice husk contained the highest ash content (FM, 8.56%; FR, 9.04%) and lowest lightness in color (FM, 67.63; FR, 63.46), possibly due to the abundance of mineral constituents. Corn cob contained the highest amount of soluble dietary fiber (SDF), whereas okara had the highest total dietary fiber (TDF). The high dietary fiber fractions of corn cob and okara also contributed to the highest water- and oil-holding capacities, emulsifying activities, and emulsion stabilities for both FM and FR samples. These results indicate that these agrowastes could be utilized as functional ingredients in foods.
A controlled release formulation for the insect pheromone hexenoic acid (HE) was successfully developed using zinc-layered hydroxide (ZLH) as host material through a simple coprecipitation technique, resulting in the formation of inorganic-organic nanolayered material with sustained release properties. The release of HE from its nanohybrid was found to occur in a controlled manner, governed by a pseudo-second order kinetics model. The maximum amount of HE released from the nanocomposite into solutions at pH 4, 6.5, and 8 was found to be 84, 73, and 83% for 1100 min, respectively. The hexenoate zinc-layered hydroxide nanomaterial (HEN) was found to be nontoxic for plants when green beans and wheat seeds were successfully germinated in all HEN concentrations tested in the experiment, with higher percentage of seed germination and higher radical seed growth as compared to its counter anion, HE. ZLH can be a promising carrier for insect pheromone toward a new generation of environmentally safe pesticide nanomaterial for crop protection.
Phenolic acid content and composition have been determined in 26 wheat genotypes grown in Hungary over three consecutive years and at three additional locations (France, United Kingdom, and Poland) during the third year. Fractions comprising free, soluble conjugated, and bound phenolic acids were analyzed using HPLC with measurements being made for individual phenolic acids in each fraction. Statistically significant differences in phenolic acid content occurred across the different growing locations with the average total phenolic acid content being highest in the genotypes grown in Hungary. The growth year in Hungary also had a large impact, especially on the free and conjugated phenolic acid contents. Certain genotypes were more resistant to environmental impacts than others. Of the genotypes with high levels of total phenolic acids, Lynx, Riband, Tommi, and Cadenza were most stable with respect to their total contents, whereas Valoris, Herzog, and Malacca, also high in phenolic acid content, were least stable. Of the three fractions analyzed, the free and conjugated phenolic acids were most variable and were also susceptible to the effect of environment, whereas bound phenolic acids, which comprised the greatest proportion of the total phenolic acids, were the most stable.
The effects of eight diets (atta flour, wheat flour, self-rising flour, rice flour, custard powder, corn flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch) on the development of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), reared at 29-31 degrees C and 66-70% RH were assessed. Five pairs of male and female T. castaneum were reared on the respective diets for 28 d before the experimental setup was dismantled and adult counts were recorded. In another experiment, the insects were allowed to mate and oviposit in each flour or starch type over a period of 7 d before being removed. The counting of pupae and adult emergence began on the day of emergence and was continued on a daily basis until day 140. Proximate analysis was performed for chemical composition of each diet, and the numbers of new adults that developed were found to be positively correlated (r2 = 0.97; P < 0.05) with the protein content and negatively correlated (r2 = 0.93; P < 0.05) with the carbohydrate content. For T. castaneum, the suitable diets were ranked as follows: atta flour > wheat flour > self-rising flour > rice flour > custard powder > corn flour > tapioca starch > potato starch. T. castaneum larval development to the pupal and adult stages developed significantly faster in atta flour (P < 0.05) than in the other diets, and the greatest number of progeny was produced from beetles reared on atta flour. Fewer adults emerged from wheat flour, self-rising flour, and rice flour, and no new emergences were recorded for the remaining diets. Developmental rate was much slower in beetles reared on diets in which a low number in progeny was produced. These data illustrate that different diets can influence the sustainability of these insects and affect their development and growth.