Cooking and sensorial quality, nutritional composition and functional properties of cold-extruded rice/white bean gluten-free fettuccine fortified with whole carob fruit flour.

Abstract

A different rice/white bean-based gluten-free fettuccine (rice 0-100%, bean 0-100%) fortified with 10% carob fruit has been developed. The proximate composition, total and resistant starch, and total, soluble and insoluble dietary fibre content as well as the cooking and sensorial quality of uncooked and cooked pasta were determined. All the novel gluten-free fettuccine forms showed good cooking quality (cooking loss < 10%) highlighting that those containing the carob fruit had better nutritional and healthy profiles than the commercial gluten-free rice pasta; they were low in fat (10-fold) and high in protein (on average 3.6-fold) with resistant starch (16%) and dietary fibres (2.4-fold). The cooking process increased (p < 0.05) the protein and total dietary fibre content but reduced the total and resistant starch. The addition of carob fruit increased the total dietary fibre content, thus improving the functional value of fettuccine. Considering the sensorial analysis, fettuccine produced with 40% bean and 10% carob could be well accepted by consumers and can be advised as a functional food.