Effect of high hydrostatic pressure on physicochemical properties of quinoa flour

Abstract

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) has potential to modify physicochemical properties of food systems. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has attracted research focus for nutritional properties. Three different types of whole grain quinoa flour were processed using HHP up to 600 MPa. HHP of 500 and 600 MPa decreased the viscosity during pasting event (e.g., peak viscosity from 4.90 to 0.18 Pa⋅s), gel hardness (e.g., from 0.185 to 0.0343 N), enthalpy change (ΔH) of gelatinization (e.g., from 11.8 to 0 J/g), and in vitro starch digestibility of quinoa flour (e.g., from 954 to 862 g/kg), while increasing the water solubility (e.g., from 15.8 to 40.2% at 55 °C). The extents of these changes were seen to depend on the type of quinoa flour. Structural analysis showed that, to a large degree, the HHP induced changes in the physicochemical properties could be attributed to the gelatinization of the starch component, and to a smaller extent, to the changes in non-starch components. The physicochemical properties of the quinoa four were much less significantly affected by HHP of 200 and 400 MPa. HHP as a non-thermal processing technique has potential to modify grain flour properties.