Chemical Composition and the Effect of Salts on the Food Properties of <i>Triticum durum</i> Wholemeal Flour

Abstract

The proximate composition, nutritionally valuable minerals and the effect of some salts (NaCl, NaNO3, Na2SO3, Na2CO3, CH3COONa) on the food properties of Triticum durum wholemeal flour were investigated on dry weight basis. Both the protein and carbohydrate values were high with respective values of 20.21g/100g and 65.7g/100g. Many minerals were either not detected or low but phosphorus was high with a value of 4285.71mg/100g. The lowest gelation concentration varied between 2.0 in Na2CO3 (0.5% w/v) and 10.0 in CH3COONa and Na2SO3 (15.0% w/v). The highest value of water absorption capacity was 230.33g/100g at 2.0% w/v CH3COONa. The oil emulsion capacity varied from 20.0g/100g at 1.0% w/v Na2CO3 to 80.0g/100g at 0.5%w/v NaCl. The oil emulsion stability (cm3) was generally good in most of the salts and in all their concentrations with rate of change (cm3 /h) ranging from 1.54 to 3.75 at 24h. The foaming capacity ranged between 4.0% at 20.0% w/v CH3COONa and 72.0% at 0.5% w/v NaNO3. The foaming stability values were high in NaN03 and Na2SO3 while the rate of change (%min-1) ranged between 0.06 and 1.67 at 1050 minutes. The protein solubility recorded two maxima under the pH and salt concentrations suggesting that the sample might be having two distinct proteins. These results indicated that T. durum would be potentially useful in some food formulations.