Textural, Color and Sensory Features of Spelt Wholegrain Snack Enriched with Betaine

Study on the Residence Time and Texture Prediction of Pea Protein Extrusion Based on Image Analysis

This paper initially involves three main processing parameters: screw speed, feeding speed, and initial material moisture content, exploring the RTD of materials inside the extruder barrel under varying parameters and clarifying the impact of parameter variations on RTD. Finally, machine vision technology was utilized to link extruded product images to texture features, and a texture prediction model based on image features was established using a Back Propagation (BP) neural network. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) were applied to optimize the BP neural network. The results indicate that the feeding speed has a stronger impact than the screw speed on the extrusion process, and an increase in the initial material moisture content tends to shorten the RTD. Specifically, an increase in screw speed results in a denser product structure, while higher feeding speeds lead to reduced pore size in the microstructure. As the initial material moisture content increased from 55% to 70%, the average residence time MRT decreased from 265.21 s to 166.62 s. Additionally, elevated moisture content causes a more porous microstructure. After optimizing the texture prediction model of extruded products through the application of Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm models, it was discovered that the Genetic Algorithm was more effective in reducing errors (p < 0.05) than the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. It was found that the Particle Swarm Optimization model exhibited better prediction performance. The results of the prediction indicated a significant association between the image features of the product and hardness, resilience, and chewiness, as corroborated by correlation coefficients of 0.93913, 0.94040, and 0.94724, respectively.

Influence of Ultrasonic and Chemical Pretreatments on Quality Attributes of Dried Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

This study investigates the effects of ultrasound, in combination with chemical pretreatments, on the quality attributes (total phenolic and carotenoid content, antioxidant activity (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay (DPPH)), ferric-reducing ability (FRAP), CIE L* a* b* color, non-enzymatic browning, rehydration ratio, textural and morphological properties) of red pepper subjected to drying (hot air drying or freeze drying). The fractional factorial design was used to assess the impact of factors. The global Derringer desirability function was used to determine the optimal conditions for the best quality attributes of dried pepper. The drying method influenced total phenolic content, a* (redness), and initial rehydration ratio; pretreatment time significantly affected FRAP antiradical activity, a*, chroma and non-browning index, while pH-value had a significant effect on the texture of dried pepper. Non-enzymatic browning was reduced to 72.6%, while the DPPH antioxidant capacity of freeze-dried peppers was enhanced from 4.2% to 71.9%. Ultrasonic pretreatment led to changes in the pepper morphology, while potassium metabisulfite (KMS) was a more effective additive than citric acid.

Ancient Wheats-A Nutritional and Sensory Analysis Review

The purpose of this review is to provide a critical evaluation of the nutritional and sensory properties of ancient wheats (spelt, emmer, einkorn, and kamut) and the methods used to analyze them. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the main analytical methods applied to study the nutritional properties of ancient wheats. According to our findings, protein content was the most commonly studied macronutrient across all types of ancient wheat species. The article notes that einkorn bran showed the highest protein and ash content, which reveals the potential of ancient wheats to be more widely used in food products. Regarding the majority of amino acids in spelt wheat cultivars, the general trend in the data was rather consistent. This review also compares sensory evaluation methods for different wheat products made from ancient wheats, such as bread, pasta, cooked grains, porridge, snacks, and muffins. The various reported methods and panel sizes used prove that ancient wheat products have many potential sensory advantages. Overall, using ancient wheats in wheat products can enhance the nutritional benefits, increase diversity in the food systems, and may be more appealing to consumers looking for something different, thereby contributing to the development of more sustainable and locally based food systems.

Corn Extrudates Enriched with Health-Promoting Ingredients: Physicochemical, Nutritional, and Functional Characteristics

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different types of powder additions on the properties of corn extrudates. The following ingredients, which are good sources of bioactive compounds, were used to substitute corn flour: legume protein sources (2% pea, 5% broccoli, and 5% lucerne), plants (15% beetroot and 15% rosehip), and condiments (2% chili, 2% turmeric, 2% paprika, and 2% basil). The total polyphenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) increased when the corn flour was replaced with the different types of ingredients. The highest TPC was found for rosehip followed by the beet, basil, and broccoli additions. Compared to the raw formulations, all the extrudates, except the rosehip extrudate, showed a decrease in the TPC ranging from 11 to 41%, with the smallest loss (11%) occurring for basil and the highest loss (41%) occurring for the control extrudate, respectively. The same observation was recorded for the AA. For the extrudate enriched with rosehip, the TPC and AA increased by 20% and 16%, respectively. The highest level of protein digestibility was in the corn extrudate with the pea addition followed by broccoli and lucerne. The extruded corn samples with condiment additions had a lower glycemic index than the control extrudate. This study demonstrated the potential for the production of gluten-free corn extrudates enriched with ingredients from different sources with improved nutritional properties, conferring also a natural color in the final extrudates.

Food extrusion: An advanced process for innovation and novel product development

Extrusion is a versatile process capable of producing a variety of new and novel foods and ingredients, thus increasing manufacturing opportunities. Further, it could provide nutritious, safe, sustainable, and affordable foods, especially directed at individualized consumer needs. In addition to past research efforts, more investigations should be conducted in order to refine, redesign, or develop new extrusion processing technologies. The present review highlights the current advances made in new and novel food product development by considering the extrusion process, the influencing parameters, and product characteristics and properties; the most promising extrusion processes that can be used in novel food product and ingredient development, such as extrusion cooking, hot-melt extrusion, reactive extrusion, and extrusion-based 3D printing; the possibilities of using various raw materials in relation to process and product development; and the needs for product development modeling along with extrusion process design and modeling. In correlation with extruded product development, topics that merit further investigation may include structure formation, plant and animal biopolymers functionalization, biopolymer reactions, process simulation, modeling and control, engineering and mechanical aspects of extruders, analysis of pre-processing treatments, as well as prototyping, risk analysis, safety, sensory and consumer acceptance.

Physico-Chemical, Textural and Sensory Evaluation of Spelt Muffins Supplemented with Apple Powder Enriched with Sugar Beet Molasses

The present study investigated the effect of incorporating 10, 20, and 30% apple powder obtained by freeze-drying, and apple powder produced with osmotic pre-treatment in sugar beet molasses solution, into muffins. The powder was freeze-dried and introduced as a whole spelt wheat flour replacement in muffins. The obtained products were investigated for their chemical composition and technological properties, and were subjected to a sensory analysis as well as a consumer acceptance test. Increasing the substitution level from 0 to 30% apple powder lowered the protein, starch, and fat content, while moisture content, sugar, and cellulose showed the opposite trend. The sensory analysis results indicated that the addition of apple powder or apple powder with osmotic pre-treatment (apple OT+Lyo powder) to the ingredients of muffins positively affected the taste, smell, mastication, and appearance of the final product. Consumers rated the muffins with 30% apple OT+Lyo powder as the most acceptable. Principal component analysis, an artificial neural network, and global sensitivity analysis were utilized to differentiate among muffin samples, and to estimate the corresponding influence of the substitution of spelt flour with apple powder or apple OT powder on the observed quality and nutritional parameters of the muffins.