100% whole wheat (WW) products offer many health benefits by being naturally rich in fiber and bran as well as in B and E vitamins, iron, phytochemicals, and phytoestrogens. 100% WW tortillas have their own sizable market and like other tortilla typestheir shelf-life and texture play vital importance in consumer acceptance. The literature on 100% WW tortillas is scarce, therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the influence of three different types of emulsifying agents, sodium stearyl lactylate (SSL), lecithin, and glyceryl monostearate (GMS), on tortilla staling. All samples were subjected to extensibility (tear) tests by using a TA-XT2 Texture Analyzer at days 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 days of storage. A completely randomized statisticaldesign was chosen. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. There was not a significant difference among the means of color attributes of tortillas (L, a, b) as well as the means of tortilla diameters. The maximum force to tearand gradient (modulus of deformation) were highly correlated to tortilla rollability scores (a scale of 0 to 5 was used, 5 being the most acceptable). Although all emulsifiers improved the shelf-life, lecithin at 2% resulted in the lowest maximum forceto tear at day 0 (softest) as well as the highest rollability score (3.5/5) at the end of day 20. The control tortillas were the most stretchable (longest distance to tear) at day 0 compared with the tortillas made with emulsifiers. However, at day 20, the control and emulsifier added tortillas did not exhibit a significant difference regarding the distance to tear. Among all three emulsifiers used, lecithin at 2% level was the most effective to improve the shelf-life and texture of 100% WW tortillas.
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