Physical and Paste Properties Comparison of Four Snacks Produced by High Protein Quinoa Flour Extrusion Cooking

Abstract

Extrusion cooking is used to produce puffed snacks based on cereals and feed ingredients. Because of its nutritional properties, quinoa flour has been employed to prepare various types of foods. This study evaluates the effects of including hyper-protein quinoa flour obtained through abrasive milling in four formulations cooked at 27% moisture content and processed in a laboratory level single screw extruder to determine their physical, textural, and pasting properties. The results indicated that additional hyper-protein quinoa flour in the cereal mixture reduced 47% the expansion index (EI), while the extrudate density (ED) and hardness increased 54 and 130%, respectively. After the extrusion process, the water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI) increased by more than 100%. The addition of hyper-protein quinoa flour (25–37%) did not affect the WAI, but an increase in the WSI was observed. The quinoa flour extrusion process generated changes on the color mainly in the L parameter, which decreased in the extruded snacks with quinoa flour inclusion (51.49), compared to the snack without inclusion (62.68). Changing the integrity of the starch granules and associated proteins, causing a decrease in the viscosity peaks during heating and subsequent cooling. The extruded samples revealed stability in the retrogradation process. Extruded snacks from quinoa could be an alternative approach to produce feed ingredients with high protein contents.

Andean Sprouted Pseudocereals to Produce Healthier Extrudates: Impact in Nutritional and Physicochemical Properties

“…This result is advantageous because consumers have a sensory memory that wholegrain cereal and pseudocereal products that are considered healthy have a darker color [ 59 ]. Muñoz-Pabon and collaborators [ 60 ] extruded a hyper-protein quinoa flour mix with a corn flour, rice flour and cassava starch in a single screw extruder at a die temperature of 140 °C and also found a decrease in luminosity (L * from 54.03 with 25% quinoa flour to 51.49 with 37% quinoa flour and 62.68 without quinoa flour). The authors related this effect to the raw material color, the browning reaction, lower expansion index and higher bulk density.…”

Quinoa Snack Production at an Industrial Level: Effect of Extrusion and Baking on Digestibility, Bioactive, Rheological, and Physical Properties

“…Hardness refers to the maximum strength reached by the sample during compression. In these products, attributes with lower density, lower hardness, and a crunchy porous structure are preferred [ 29 ]. There are significant differences in the hardness values of ES and EBS, with the latter obtaining a lower hardness value, which may be related to the higher water content of the unbaked snacks.…”

“…The rheological properties of each dispersion were determined using a rheometer (TA INSTRUMENTS, AR 1500, New Castle, DE, USA), equipped with a starch sticking cell, according to the methodology of [ 29 ]. Peak viscosity (PV), viscosity drop (BD), and setback (SB) were recorded in duplicate.…”

“…The color of the extrudate was determined with a Konica Minolta CM-5 spectrophotometer, controlled by SpectraMagic NX software, with a D65 illuminant and a 10° observation angle. Based on the methodology in [ 29 ], chroma (C*), h, and ∆E were calculated with the following equations: …”

“…The mechanical properties of the extrudates were analyzed with a texture analyzer (Shimadzu EZ TEST SM, model 500N-168, Japan) following the method of [ 29 , 30 ], with slight modifications. Twenty-five extrudates of each treatment were equilibrated using a moisture chamber (KBF-S 240, Binder, Germany) under 30% RH for 94 h. The area under the curve (S; N.mm) and the number of peaks (n) above 1.5 N were obtained from the force–strain curves and used to calculate the spatial frequency of ruptures (Nsr), the average crushing force (Fcr), and the work of crunching (Wcr), using the following equations: donde = distancia de recorrido de la sonda (mm).…”