Abstract:
Palmyrah tuber flour possesses many health benefits such as curing constipation and
strengthening the body, but its characteristic bitterness makes it mediocre. De-bittering
of the flour made it more palatable. The objective of this study was to formulate debittered
palmyrah tuber flour based bakery item which is both tasty and healthy. In this
study, antioxidants extracted from palmyrah fruit pulp and garlic have been added to
the de-bittered palmyrah tuber flour and this enriched mixture has been used to make
breadsticks, the traditional pencil-shaped ready to eat bakery products. Three different
de-bittered flour combinations (30%, 40% and 50%) were analyzed through the sensory
evaluation by using nine point hedonic scale and 30 untrained panelists. Fifty (50) %
de-bittered tuber flour combination had the highest mean score; hence it was selected
to formulate the breadsticks. To compensate for the loss of health benefits incurred
during the process of de-bittering, different oil composition (B1-100% virgin coconut oil
(CO), B2-100% carotenoid extract enriched oil (CEO), B3-100% garlic incorporated oil
(GIO) and B4-50:50% CEO:GIO) incorporated breadsticks were prepared and sensory
evaluation was performed on them. According to the sensory result, the four different
treatments were selected and further evaluated for their physicochemical, nutritional
and functional properties, and compared with the commercial sample. The results were
analyzed by using one-way ANOVA and Tukey pairwise comparison test in Minitab-19.
The four treatments were showed higher mean value for fibre (7.40±0.02a -7.44±0.02a),
total phenolic content (63.09 ± 2.36c -77.32±0.65a) and free radical scavenging activity
(IC50 value 1.16±0.02d - 2.43 ± 0.231b) than commercial sample. Microbial counts were
below the safety margin in the vacuum packed breadsticks during one month storage.
According to the antioxidant properties results, it was concluded that the B3 breadstick
sample was the best sample that beneficially provided a healthy snack for consumers.
