PHYSICOCHEMICAL, MICROSTRUCTURE AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF NOODLE ENRICHED WITH PUMPKIN (CUCURBITA MOSCHATA) POWDER

Abstract

Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) is a fruit that contains a large amount of dietary fiber. In this study, noodles were produced by substituting a part of wheat flour with pumpkin powder at two con-centrations (5% and 10%). Sensory, physicochemical, microstructure, and cooking analyzes were perform-ed on the resulting noodles. The addition of pumpkin powder caused a significant increase in ash, dietary fiber, Mg, K and Zn content, cooking loss, water ab-sorption capacity and adhesiveness values, and a sig-nificant decrease in the protein, fat and carbohydrate content and energy value. The cohesiveness, resili-ence, gumminess, springiness, and chewiness values also decreased significantly. It was determined from microstructure images that the addition of pumpkin powder to the noodle formulation led to an interrup-tion in the gluten-starch matrix. The color analysis re-vealed the control sample to have significantly lower a* and b* values and higher L* values than the en-riched samples. Finally, the noodles made with pump-kin powder received significantly higher sensory scor-es in terms of overall acceptability, flavor and color © 2022, Latin American Applied Research.All Rights Reserved.