Evaluation of amaranth flour processing for noodle making

摘要

Amaranth is an ancient grain that is high in gluten-free protein and is a drought tolerantcrop. Due to growing consumer interest in nutrition and environment, there isa renewed interest in ancient crops such as amaranth. The objective of this studywas to evaluate processing methods such as dry roasting and jet-cooking of amaranthflours for making high protein, gluten-free noodles. Commercial amaranth flourwas processed by dry roasting and excess steam jet-cooking. The raw and processedflours were evaluated for proximate and amino acid composition, physical propertiessuch as bulk density, water absorption, and pasting and properties and compared towheat flour. The noodle dough and noodles made using the three amaranth floursand wheat flour were evaluated for texture, color, and cooking quality. Raw amaranthflour had higher protein, ash, and fat content but lower starch content whencompared to wheat flour. Processing of amaranth flour did not affect the protein,starch, and ash content of amaranth flours. Bulk density of raw amaranth flour wassignificantly lower than wheat flour roasting did not affect the bulk density, but jetcookingdecreased the bulk density. Raw amaranth flour had higher peak viscositythan wheat flour. The jet-cooked amaranth flour had a shorter hydration time, lowerpeak viscosity, and low setback. Raw Amaranth noodle dough was softer but roastedamaranth flour did not significantly differ in dough hardness from wheat flour dough.The noodles made from raw and processed amaranth flours were softer than wheatflour noodles. Amaranth flour noodles had a softer bite than wheat flour noodles,roasting increased the hardness of the amaranth flour noodles. Raw and roastedamaranth flours had similar cooking yields as wheat flour, but jet-cooked amaranthflour noodles had higher cooking losses and partially disintegrated during cooking.Roasted amaranth flour has potential for replacing wheat flour in the preparation ofacceptable gluten-free, nutritive noodles.