Indexing p. 1  Editorial Bord p. 1  Guide for Authors p. 3  Manuscript preparation p. 5

Kosović I., Jukić M., Jozinović A., Ačkar Đ., Koceva Komlenić D. (2016): Influence of chestnut flour addition on quality characteristics of pasta made on extruder and minipress. Czech J. Food Sci., 34: 166-172.Durum semolina was replaced with 10, 15, and 20% of chestnut flour. Pasta was produced on a single screw extruder with the temperature profile of 80/90/90°C and on a laboratory minipress. Pasta samples were dried at room temperature and physical and sensory properties were determined. Generally, the chestnut flour addition to durum wheat pasta decreased optimum cooking time, hardness, cohesiveness, and chewiness, but increased cooking losses and pasta adhesiveness. Samples made on an extruder showed shorter optimum cooking times in relation to samples made on a minipress. Absorbed water was decreased with chestnut flour addition. Pasta made on an extruder showed a higher sensory score in comparison with pasta made on a minipress. The addition of chestnut flour influenced the colour of the samples. Samples made on an extruder showed darker colour in dried and cooked pasta samples in relation to minipress samples. In dried pasta samples, the extruder gave yellower samples in relation to the minipress, while in cooked pasta samples it was reversed. Overall, the extruder gave higher-quality pasta compared to the minipress.

The aim of the study was to screen the waste wood biomass of 10 wood species as biosorbents for synthetic dye Congo Red (CR) removal from water and to single out the most efficient species for further batch biosorption experiments. Euroamerican poplar (EP), the most efficient species achieving 71.8% CR removal and biosorption capacity of 3.3 mg g−1, was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Different factors affecting the biosorption process were investigated: initial biosorbent concentration (1–10 g dm−3), contact time (5–360 min), initial CR concentration (10–100 mg dm−3), and the initial pH (pH = 4–9). The results showed that CR removal efficiency increased with the increase of biosorbent concentration and contact time. Increase of initial CR concentration led to an increase of the biosorption capacity, but also a decrease of CR removal efficiency. The highest CR removal efficiency was achieved at pH = 4, while at pH = 9 a significant decrease was noticed. The percentage of CR removal from synthetic wastewater was 18.6% higher than from model CR solution. The Langmuir model fitted well the biosorption data, with the maximum biosorption capacity of 8 mg g−1. The kinetics data were found to conform to the pseudo-second-order kinetics model.

Although β-glucans in cereals are desirable as healthy diet components, high levels of β-glucans in malting barley are unacceptable because they can cause unsatisfactory degradation of cell walls during malting. The aim of this study was to investigate the β-glucan content in twelve Croatian and two German barley varieties at three representative locations in Eastern Croatia over three consecutive seasons (2012)(2013)(2014). Total β-glucan content in barley samples was determined using enzymatic method. Most of the investigated barley varieties had total β-glucan content lower or significantly lower than 4%. Furthermore, a distinct and clear genotype influence was noticed. No significant difference was found between years, but between locations Osijek and Tovarnik.

Pasta is one of the most popular meals in the world. It is affordable, easy to combine with other foods and easy to cook. Unfortunately, pasta is energy-rich and nutrient-poor. Whole-wheat pasta is somewhat better in nutritional quality, but further improvements may be made. One option is to add different raw materials and specific nutritive components (vitamins, polyphenols, fiber, protein, etc.) to semolina. However, this approach changes its physico-chemical properties, e.g. cooking loss, texture, etc., which cannot be disregarded. The current research investigates possibilities for production of barley-enriched pasta with acceptable cooking qualities. To ensure the beneficial health effects of β-glucan, β-glucan-rich barley was selected asa starting material. Pasta enriched with 10–50% β-glucan-rich barley flour was produced in the mini-press and the laboratory extruder and then dried at low, medium and high temperature regimes. Colour, cooking quality and microstructure of the enriched pasta were investigated to determine its acceptability. The research showed that barley-enriched pasta of good cooking quality might be produced by selecting an optimal combination of suitable production parameters for forming and drying.