Abstract
Carob flour is increasingly popular in innovative functional foods. Its main producers are Mediterranean countries, facing health and nutrition challenges, and difficulties in tackling climate change. This study aims at formulating innovative sustainable bakery products of high nutritional value while pleasing the consumer and addressing regional challenges. Hence, carob flour was obtained by grinding sun-dried carob pods, thus reducing the environmental impact, and preserving carob’s high nutraceutical value. Different bread formulations resulted from the blend of wheat flour with carob pulp (5, 10, 20, and 30%) and/or seed powder (5 and 10%), with no added fats, additives, or processing aids. New products were evaluated for their textural, chromatic, nutritional, aromatic, and hedonic properties. Carob is rich in aroma, antioxidants, and prebiotic fibers, and does not contain gluten, so when combined with wheat, the proportion of gluten in bread is reduced. Carob is also rich in minerals (4.16% and 2.00% ash, respectively in seed and pulp), and breadmaking seems to generate lesser furane derivatives than in white bread. In short, carob is typically Mediterranean and is a valuable local resource in the formulation of sustainable foods with high nutritional value, low carbon footprint, safe, healthy, tasty, and affordable, all at once.
Highlights
We live in an era of unprecedented human population growth and technological development but bordering on the catastrophic consequences of climate change
Two types of carob flour were used in the formulation experiments, and both were produced from Tunisian carob pods dried under the sun
A demand by consumers for healthier and sustainable foods has resulted in a panoply of innovative foodstuffs, some of which are inspired by the Mediterranean tradition of combining carob flour with wheat flour in making bread and pastries, once used in times of scarcity
Summary
We live in an era of unprecedented human population growth and technological development but bordering on the catastrophic consequences of climate change. The survival of our own species is at stake, and in the short term, the states face increased expenses with healthcare systems (partly due to diet-related non-communicable diseases), with the mitigation of environmental damage (pollution, soil degradation), etc. The demand for water, food, and energy continues to increase, as the global population grows and intensifies consumption, further contributing to aggravate climate change [3]. Despite the fact that the biggest drivers of global warming are not adequately addressing the problem, many actions are within the reach of individuals and small business owners, and many individual contributions will make a difference: reducing the consumption of water, energy, and food (waste) will have direct big economic and environmental impacts. Acting on the water–food–energy nexus is crucial for sustainable development as it can be achieved by merging scientific knowledge and ancient wisdom in optimizing the use of resources [4,5,6,7]
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