Evaluation of nutritional, physicochemical and cooking quality of defatted Soy Flour (Glycine max L. Merr.) enriched pasta

Abstract

Pasta is traditionally manufactured from durum wheat, which gives its desired texture and quality. Despite its high protein content (11-15% w/w), it lacks essential amino acids including lysine and threonine, common to most cereal products. Therefore, there is a growing demand for the development of pasta with non-traditional flour to improve nutritional quality. The present study aimed to develop a defatted soy flour (DSF) enriched pasta, and evaluate its sensory attributes, cooking quality, and physicochemical properties. The pasta samples were developed with durum wheat flour (DWF) and defatted soy flour (DSF). The DSF was included at varying ratios (5%, 10%, 20%, and 30% w/w), with the control sample containing 100% durum wheat flour. Standard protocols were used to evaluate the cooking quality, physicochemical, and antioxidant properties of pasta and 13 trained panelists evaluated the sensory properties using a 9-point hedonic scale. According to the sensory evaluation, the 20% (w/w) DSF added sample had the highest sensorial properties and showed similar cooking quality and textural properties compared to the control. The values were as follows: 12.33 ± 0.57 min cooking time, 2.20 ± 0.10 swelling index, 8.66 ± 0.28% cooking loss, 214.33 ± 1.52% volume increase, 215.00 ± 5.00% water absorption ratio, 2630 ± 337g hardness and 13.76 ± 1.07mJ chewiness. The 20% (w/w) DSF sample had significantly higher protein (23 ± 0.50%), ash (9.71 ± 1.00%), fat (2.27 ± 0.25%), fiber (0.90 ± 0.14) and lower moisture content (7.50 ± 0.50 %) than the control sample. Moreover, it exhibited a high DPPH radical scavenging activity (32.10 ± 0.25 %). Overall, it can be concluded that pasta containing 20% defatted soy flour resulted in nutritious pasta with better textural, sensorial, and functional qualities.