Watermelon rind powder (WRP) is a rich source of dietary fiber and bioactive compounds, hence it could be used in the development of functional foods such as cookies. Different replacement levels of wheat flour with either WRP or hi-maize starch (HMS) (10-30%) on the quality of the cookies made were studied. The dietary fiber content in the cookies increased with incorporation of increasing level of either WRP or HMS. Increasing the proportion of the WRP in the cookie making resulted in an increase in the total phenolic content, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power. Using up to 20% of WRP and 30% of HMS in the cookie making promotes: increase in dietary fiber, decrease in predicted glycemic index to medium (for WRP) and low (for HMS) levels, and improving the antioxidant activity. These changes still produce an acceptable cookie.

Microfluidization has been applied to modify starch granules. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of microfluidization on the structure and thermal properties of cassava starch–water suspension (20% w/w). The means of optical microscopy, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, and DSC were applied to analyze the changes in microstructure, crystallinity, and thermal property. Microscopy observations revealed that native starch granules were oval, round, and truncated in shape. After the microfluidization treatment, a bigger starch granule was partially gelatinized, and a gel‐like structure was formed on a granular surface. No significant difference in XRD patterns of the samples were observed and all samples exhibited A‐type allomorph. Crystallinity decreased with the pressure. Sample treated at 150 MPa contains 17.1% crystalline glucan polymer, lower than that of native granules which have crystallinity of about 25.8%. A lower crystallinity means poor order of crystalline glucan polymer structure in starch granules. The disruption of crystalline order within the granule was also observed by FTIR measurement. Thermal analysis using DSC indicated that the microfluidization treatment brought about a significant decrease of melting enthalpy. The gelatinization enthalpy was 12.0 and 3.0 J/g for the native sample and samples treated under the 150 MPa, respectively. The results indicate that high‐pressure microfluidization process induced the gelatinization of cassava starch, which is evaluated by a percentage of the degree of gelatinization, due to a pronounced decrease with increasing microfluidizing pressure.

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Jam has a high calorific value because of high sugar content. Low-calorie jam products can be made using the combinations of noncaloric and carbohydrate sweeteners. The partial or full replacement of sucrose with xylitol could be applied to produce low sugar food products. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the properties of low sugar cantaloupe jams as influenced by the substitution of sucrose with xylitol (0-100% xylitol). The sample produced by 100% sucrose was used as the control treatment. Increasing the xylitol content increased the lightness (L * ) and spreadability, while a reduction of redness (a * ), hardness, stickiness, water activity, total sugar, reducing sugar, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural content were observed. There were no significant differences in proximate compositions, total phenolics, vitamin C, and β-carotene content among the samples while the antioxidant activities as accessed by DPPH-radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power tended to decrease with increasing xylitol content. The sensory attributes were not significantly different between the control sample and the samples containing 25% and 50% xylitol. It can be concluded that the partial replacement of sucrose with xylitol, particularly up to 50%, could be recommended to utilize in the cantaloupe jam production. The incorporation of xylitol in the cantaloupe jam formulation could reduce sugar content, resulting in the reduction of calories.

Microencapsulation technology can be used to improve the probiotic viability under stress condition in the human gastrointestinal tract and during storage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of encapsulation materials on the survival of GABA-producing probiotics using alginate containing cassava starch nanocrystals under simulated gastrointestinal conditions and shelf storage. Lactobacillus brevis ST-69, GABAproducing probiotic strain, was isolated from kimchi and encapsulated using emulsion technique. The GABA activity, encapsulation efficiency, morphology, probiotic viability were evaluated. The encapsulation efficiency using emulsion technique was 89.72%. Probiotic encapsulated in alginate-nanocrystalline starch gel capsules showed high survival rate at 94.97% of probiotic cells under simulated gastrointestinal conditions and during long-life storage at 4 °C compared to free cells. Results showed that for improving the viability of probiotics against gastrointestinal and storage conditions, complex materials with nanocrystalline starch might be a better encapsulating matrix for the preparation of gel capsules.