THE EFFECT OF COOKING WATER COMPOSITION ON TEXTURAL AND COOKING PROPERTIES OF SPAGHETTI

摘要

The effect of cooking water on both textural and cooking properties of spaghetti was investigated for spaghetti samples, which differ in protein content. The samples were analysed after cooking in deionised, laboratory tap water, deionised water with 2.5% salt and deion-ised water with 5.0% salt. Brands A, B, and C were usual durum wheat spaghetti and brand D was spaghetti enriched with bran. Regardless of the cooking water used, brand D had higher hardness and lower adhesiveness than other spaghetti samples and required longer cooking time to achieve optimum cooking. It was found that samples cooked deionised water had lower hardness and adhesiveness values as compared to samples cooked in salty water. It can be concluded that a certain amount of salt in the cooking water improves textural characteristics of cooked pasta.