High dietary fiber pasta: processing and evaluation

ABSTRACT

Orange, carrot and potato fibers were used as dietary fiber sources for producing high fiber pasta. Semolina was replaced using the fiber sources at three levels, i.e. 10, 15 and 20%. Gum arabic was also added at ratio of 1% as soluble dietary fiber and texture modifier. Pasta made of 100% semolina was prepared for comparison. Chemical composition, dough rheological properties, colour attributes, cooking quality, sensory properties and microstructure of pasta were studied. A remarkable improvement in total dietary fiber was achieved. High-fiber pasta contained about 3 or 4 folds dietary fiber as compared with control pasta. Farinograph parameters were affected by the fiber incorporation. Water absorption, dough development time and dough weakening increased, while dough stability decreased for all samples compared to control. Addition of fiber sources increased the weight and volume of cooked pasta, but cooking loss was significantly higher than that of the control. The sensory evaluation indicated that high fiber pasta with acceptable quality could be prepared from semolina replaced with orange fiber and carrot fiber up to 15% and potato peels up to 10%. Scanning electron microscopy [SEM] of produced pasta revealed remarkable differences in control and treated samples and supported the obtained results: