Preparation and evaluation of functional cocoa‐free spread alternatives from different sources

Abstract

Spread products have an important market share as they have high nutritional value and they are increasingly consumed, especially by children as a source of energy. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential use of powdered chickpea, black rice, carob, doum, date seeds, and beetroot to produce novel functional spreadable products as cocoa‐free alternatives. Additionally, to avoid the side effects of cocoa‐based products and to assess the cocoa replacement effects on the sensory properties, chemical composition, texture analysis, viscosity, antioxidant, peroxide stability, and microbial quality during storage periods were compared to the ones of cocoa spread. Sensory evaluation revealed that most formulated spreads were accepted as chocolate spread alternatives since there was no significant difference in overall acceptability among cocoa, chickpea, black rice, carob, and doum, while date seeds and beetroot spreads were significantly less acceptable. A variation was observed in the proximate chemical analysis of the produced functional spreads, as the alternative spreads had different characteristics to each other in their physicochemical, texture, and rheological properties. Results indicated a wide variation in the total phenolic content (TPC) of the different spread extracts. The highest amount of TPC was obtained for beetroot spread (455.84 mg GAE/100 g) followed by black rice spread (436.08 mg GAE/100 g). The obtained results indicated that the antioxidant activity of different spreads was significantly different (p < .05) while based on their microbiological analysis, they could have a shelf life of up to 9 months. According to the results, chickpea, carob, doum, black rice, date seeds, and beetroot powders could be used for the production of cocoa‐free alternatives as they were highly acceptable and they showed antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.

Amlou inspired spread: Formulation and characterization of new spread based on Ziziphus lotus L. fruit, argan oil, and honey

“…This makes them an attractive option for consumers and food producers. High moisture content was observed in some functional cocoa-free spread alternatives (chickpea, black rice, carob, doum, date seeds, and beetroot) varying from 22.19 % for Black rice to 23.42 % for carob) [ 34 ].…”