COOKING QUALITY, SENSORY EVALUATION AND NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF INSTANT NOODLES FORTIFIED BY SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE

Abstract

Noodles are widely consumed throughout the world and their global consumption is second order to bread. The instant noodles market is growing fast in Egypt, and is gaining popularity in the Egyptian market. Wheat flour which is usually used to make instant noodles is not only low in fiber and protein contents but also poor in phytochemicals as mineral, total phenol, total flavonoids, carotenoids and vitamin C. In the present study, the used wheat flour was fortified with 2.5 and 5 % spinach and artichoke. The produced noodles were tested to evaluate the physical properties, sensory and nutritional value (such as chemical composition, Fe, Ca, Zn and antioxidant). The results revealed that no significant effect was observed on cooking quality. The fortified noodles showed improvement in nutritional value. The results showed that significant increase in protein, fiber and ash contents was noticed, compared to control. The results also showed that, the fortified noodles had significant increase in Ca, Fe and Zn contents than control. Also, overall acceptability scores demonstrate higher significant effect of spinach flour addition than artichoke. The results observed that the noodles fortified with 5 % spinach had highest amount of total phenolic, flavonoides, carotenoids and vitamin C content after cooking for 3 min. On the other hand the maximum decrease in antioxidant was observed after cooking for 9 min. Thus, the results suggest that, by incorporation of spinach and artichoke up to 5% in instant noodles, it may be possible to enhance the nutritional value of noodles without affecting its cooking and sensory properties.