Particle size, morphological, rheological, physicochemical characterization and designation of minerals in mesquite flour (Proposis julifrora)

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the particle size, morphological, rheological, physicochemical and minerals characteristics of mesquite flour. The flour produced with mesquite dried at 60 °C was subjected to particle size characterization, using a set of standardized sieves in the range of 32–150 Mesh, morphological, at magnifications of 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000 times obtained on a scanning electron microscope, rheological (gluten content, alveography, farinography and amilography), physicochemical (water, ash, protein, lipids, carbohydrate and fiber) and minerals (calcium, phosphorus and iron) were quantified by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. It is concluded that mesquite flour showed greater quantity of particles with a particle size of 0.5 mm, suitable for the production of bread, cookies and cakes. It could not describe an exact geometry for mesquite flour particles. Rheological characterization indicated that mesquite flour has a low force flour quantitative profile, which is suitable for cookies production. Mesquite flour showed high concentration of fibers (15.10 g·100 g−1), calcium (650.75 mg·100 g−1) and phosphorous (879.12 mg·100 g−1). It is concluded that mesquite flour can be used as a raw material in baking industry due to its high nutritional quality, and its granulometrical and rheological characteristics.