Volume 53, Issue 4 pp. 517-530
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Wheatgrass powder-enriched functional pasta: Techno-functional, phytochemical, textural, sensory, and structural characterization

Keshavdeep Bawa

Keshavdeep Bawa

Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Contribution: Formal analysis (equal), Resources (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Jaswinder Kaur Brar

Jaswinder Kaur Brar

Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Contribution: Data curation (equal), ​Investigation (equal), Project administration (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (equal)

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Arashdeep Singh

Corresponding Author

Arashdeep Singh

Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Correspondence

Arashdeep Singh, Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141001, India.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Formal analysis (supporting), Methodology (equal), Project administration (lead), Resources (lead), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Writing - original draft (equal)

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Antima Gupta

Antima Gupta

Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Contribution: Data curation (equal), Methodology (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Harpreet Kaur

Harpreet Kaur

Research Fellow, Department of Food Science and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India

Contribution: Methodology (equal), Software (equal), Validation (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Kiran Bains

Kiran Bains

Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Contribution: Project administration (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (equal), Visualization (equal)

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First published: 01 April 2022
Citations: 14

This article was published on AA publication on: 01 April 2022.

Funding information: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Abstract

The influence of semolina replacement with wheatgrass powder (WGP; 3%–15%) was evaluated with reference to nutritional, techno-functional, phytochemical, textural, and structural characteristics of functional pasta. Results showed that incorporation of WGP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the pasting viscosity of flour blends, while it increased the water and oil absorption capacity and water solubility index. Increased levels of WGP significantly decreased the optimum cooking time from 6.00 to 4.22 min but increased the cooking loss (2.83%–4.36%). Enrichment of pasta with WGP significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced the protein (12.16–17.33 g/100 g), fiber (1.21–4.60 g/100 g), antioxidant activities in terms of DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS. The total phenolic and flavonoid content increased from 56.20–253.90 mg GAE/100 g to 47.41–202.90 mg QE/100 g in the functional pasta. Addition of WGP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the lightness (L*) while the greenness (−a*) of the pasta increased progressively owing to the total chlorophyll pigment. The firmness and toughness of the pasta increased up to 9% WGP level and decreased further, owing to the interaction between WGP protein and fiber with gluten protein matrix as evident from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the cooking of pasta results in a significant reduction in all the components in comparison to uncooked pasta. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy further confirmed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, and chlorophyll in WGP-incorporated pasta. Overall acceptability scores of pastas with 9% WGP were found to have the highest (7.57), and with an increase in a further level of WGP, sensory scores decreased (6.55). Moreover, the principal component analysis also compliments the sensory results for 9% WGP-incorporated pasta.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

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