Effect of gac fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis) powder on in vitro starch digestibility, nutritional quality, textural and sensory characteristics of pasta

Abstract

This research reports the effects of gac fruit powder (5–15% w/w) on in vitro starch digestion, the characteristics and sensory acceptability of pasta. Incorporation of unripe (10–15%) and ripe (5–15%) gac fruit powder containing phenolic compounds and carotenoids remarkedly reduced the starch digestibility of pasta. Furthermore, gac fruit powder also decreased the percentage of rapidly digestible starch with a concomitant increase in the percentage of undigested starch in pasta. The dietary fiber content was markedly increased by the addition of gac fruit powder into pasta. The cooking loss, yellowness (b*), hardness and cohesiveness of pasta was increased with higher amount of ripe gac fruit powder. The replacement of wheat flour with unripe (5%) and ripe gac fruit powder (5–10%) had no effect on sensory acceptability of pasta. The findings suggest that gac fruit seems to be a promising functional ingredient to incorporate with pasta for reduction of starch digestibility.