Keywords:
Extrudates, Nutrition, Composition, Sensory, Fatty acids, Amino acids, Storage
Quinoa is a pseudo-cereal widely acclaimed for its good tolerance to extreme climates. Being suitable for diabetics, while being endowed with superior quality nutrients, quinoa incorporation in diet carries benefits for consumers worldwide. The present study was designed to incorporate quinoa flour at 60% level in extruded snacks made from cereals like rice, corn and oats. The extrudates were investigated for their composition, physico-chemical and sensory properties. Upon varying the barrel temperature from 100 to 170 °C, wide variation in expansion ratios 3.28–3.50, unit density (0.120–0.200 g/cm3), WAI (5.77–6.40 g/g), WSI (12.59–20.93%) and Hunter color parameters were recorded for the extrudates. The optimized extruded snack had protein (15.99%), fat (4.24%), ash (1.94%) and carbohydrates (77.83%). The storage study showed that extrudates were acceptable till 80 days of storage at ambient conditions. The optimized snack could meet the FAO requirements for 6 out of 10 essential amino acids for adults namely lysine, methionine, cystine, threonine and phenylalanine + tyrosine. The fatty acid profile of the developed extrudates showed presence of 58%, 4.4% and 23% of omega-6, omega-3 and oleic fatty acids, respectively. The present study suggests possibility for production of highly acceptable extruded snacks having up to 60% quinoa, which provide good nutrition also.
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We acknowledge the effort of QC lab. (PJTSAU) especially Dr. Aparna Kuna for assistance with HPLC and GC analysis; Dr. Yassin Al-Qassar for assistance in plagiarism check and the Inner being wellness Pvt. Ltd. for providing of quinoa grains.