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JFS: Food Engineering and Physical Properties

Extrusion Cooking Process for Amaranth


(Amaranthus caudatus L.)
R.N. CHÁVEZ-JÁUREGUI, M.E.M.P. SILVA, AND J.A.G. ARÊAS

ABSTRACT: Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus L.) extrusion was optimized by response surface methodology (RSM).
Response (dependent) variables were: expansion ratio, shearing strength, and sensory texture acceptability. Inde-
pendent variables were processing temperature and feed moisture. All other process variables (screw speed, screw
compression ratio, feed speed, and die diameter) were kept constant (200 rpm, 70 g.min-1, and 3 mm, respectively).
The most expanded products also had the best texture and were obtained at 150 °C and 15% moisture. These
conditions resulted in greater expansion, greater shearing force of extrudates, greater extrudate surface area per unit
weight, and reduced shearing stress at maximum shearing force. This study showed that under conditions that
induced the maximum expansion ratio, extrusion produced a highly acceptable snack product based on amaranth
flour.
Key words: ready-to-eat cereals, snacks, food protein

Introduction ranth seeds were cleaned by sieving, and the cleaned seeds were
milled in a stainless steel knife mill (Marconi, Brazil). The flour
A MARANTH IS A PSEUDOCEREAL CONSUMED PRIMARILY IN

Food Engineering and Physical Properties


specific parts of the Americas. It has potential as a source of di- was defatted with n-hexane for 12 h in a soxhlet apparatus (re-
etary nutrients. Development of new products from amaranth will sidual lipid of 0.16 %). The flour was conditioned to obtain the
expand utilization of this raw material for utilization by humans. desired moisture for extrusion by adding the required amount of
Amaranthus caudatus is native to Peru and other Andean coun- water to the flour in a homogenizer (Model Planetaria, Arno S/A,
tries. The amaranth plant is eaten as a vegetable, and the seeds Brazil) and the hydrated flour was sealed in polyethylene bags
are used as a cereal (Saunders and Becker, 1984). Amaranth grain and stored at 5 °C for 48 h prior to extrusion.
is about 15% protein that contains high levels of lysine and sulfur
amino acids. Several studies have shown leucine to be the first Proximate composition
limiting amino acid in amaranth (Becker and others 1981; Peders- The following methods were used: for moisture, desiccation at
en and others 1987a; Teutonico and Knorr 1985; Saunders and 105 °C; for ash, calcination at 550 °C; for lipids, defatting in a
Becker 1984). The protein quality of amaranth seed is far superior soxhlet apparatus with ethyl ether; and for protein, micro
to that of common cereal grains. Processing may affect the protein Kjeldahl (N x 6.25) (AOAC, 1980), Carbohydrate content was esti-
quality of amaranth grain. The traditional process of popping and mated by difference.
flaking seem to have no major effect on protein value as a food nu-
trient. However, more severe heat treatments might damage the Amino acid analysis
protein (Pedersen and others 1987a). Extrusion cooking process Amino acid was determined using an auto analyzer (Beckman
for A. cruentus and A. caudatus resulted in the protein nutritional 7300, Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, Calif., U.S.A.) after 6 N
quality that was comparable to casein (Mendoza and others 1987). HCL hydrolysis at 110 °C for 22h. Cysteic acid and methionine
Extruded amaranth grain exhibited better nutritional value than sulphone were analyzed after oxidation of the samples by per-
raw amaranth and the product required no additional cooking pri- formic acid (Spackman and others 1958.)
or to consumption (Bressani and others 1992). Response surface
methodology (RSM) is a useful statistical technique for investiga- Expansion ratio
tion of complex processes and has been widely adopted in food This was determined as the ratio of extruded product diame-
science research. RSM has been successfully applied for optimiz- ter and the diameter of the die hole. Values reported were aver-
ing conditions in several food processes. Extrusion cooking pro- ages of 32 measurements.
cesses can be optimized by RSM (Batistutti and others 1991; Var-
gas-López and others 1990). However, optimizing extrusion condi- Shear strength
tions for the production of amaranth-based snack foods has not The shearing strength of extrudates was determined using an
been reported. The objective of this study was to optimize the con- Instron universal testing machine (Model. 1000, Instron Corp,
ditions for a cooking extruder used to produce an amaranth-based Canton, Mass., U.S.A.) equipped with a Warner-Bratzler device.
snack food. The crosshead speed was 500 mm/min and values reported were
averages of 30 determinations.
Materials and Methods
Density
Amaranth The density (r, mg.mm-3) was calculated as:
Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus L.) CAC - 43A, Oscar Blanco
variety from the germ plasm bank of the Centro de Investigación r = 4M / p D2 L,
en Cultivos Andinos (CICA) of the National University of San An-
tonio Abad del Cusco–Perú was used for this study. The ama- where: M = mass average of extrudate in mg (mean of 30 weigh-

© 2000 Institute of Food Technologists Vol. 65, No. 6, 2000—JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE 1009
Extrusion Cooking of Amaranth . . .
ings in an analytical balance).; D = diameter of the extrudates in Table 1 Specification matrix of the second order design X1:moisture
(% d.s.b); X2: temperature ( °C) *.
mm (mean of 30 measurements with a vernier caliper) and L =
Length average of extrudates in mm (mean of 30 measurements Coded variables Original variables
with a vernier caliper). Design x1 x2
Point [(x1-15)/2] [(x2-150)/15] X1 (%M d.s.b) X2 (T °C)
Texture acceptability 1 -1 -1 13 135
To evaluate the sensory acceptance of the snack product, bal- 2 -1 1 13 165
3 1 -1 17 135
lots containing an unstructured modified scale, 100 mm long was
4 1 1 17 165
used (Land and Shepherd 1988). The texture acceptability score 5 0 0 15 150
was defined as the distance from origin of the mark assigned on 6 0 0 15 150
the scale by the panelist, relative to the central point on the scale 7 0 0 15 150
8 !w 2 0 17.8 150
which was assigned as the acceptability score of a reference prod- 9 –!w 2 0 12.27 150
uct (a commercial brand of unflavored extruded corn ). The panel- 10 0 !w 2 15 171
ists were instructed to consider only the texture and ignore the col- 11 0 –!w 2 15 128.8
12 0 0 15 150
or and flavor. Every panelist assessed the reference, coded with 13 0 0 15 150
the letter P, and asked to indicate the relative texture acceptability 14 0 0 15 150
of the samples relative to the reference on the score on the ballot. * Temperature is set at the third zone from the feed end of four barrel zones.
Results were consistent among the panelists and were reproduc-
ible in different sessions. The panel consisted of 30 untrained per-
Table 2 Proximate composition of amaranth (g/100g)
sons recruited from among the students and faculty staff.
Material Moisture Proteina Lipidsa Asha F. Nifexta
Extrusion Original 12.32 ± 0.025 13.58 ± 0.20 7.56 ± 0.06 2.37 ± 0.05 64.17
Extrusion was carried out in a laboratory scale single-screw ex- flour
Defatted 13.44 ± 0.04 13.70 ± 0.00 0.16 ± 0.003 2.72 ± 0.08 69.98
truder(20 mm barrel diameter, 20:1 L/D; Miotto Ltda, São Paulo, Extruded 7.80 ± 0.08 14.04 ± 0.00 0.19 ± 0.003 2.76 ± 0.04 75.21
Brazil). The following conditions were fixed, based on preliminary a Average of three determination ± st dev, % F. Nifext by diference
experiments: 200-rpm screw rotation, 3.55:1 screw compression ra-
tio, 3-mm die diameter. The barrel consisted of four independent
Food Engineering and Physical Properties

zones, electrically heated and cooled by water or compressed air.


Temperature was sensed by thermocouples which supplied sig-
nals to a controller that operated solenoid valves, to control water the central composite rotatable design ( Barros and others 1987;
and air flow. The feed end of the barrel (the first zone) was water Bastos and Arêas, 1990.; Bastos and others 1991; Batistuti and
cooled to ambient temperature. The 2nd zone was set at 10 °C less others 1991).
than the 3rd zone (central or metering zone) and the 4th zone (the Regression analysis fitted the results to a second order poly-
die end was set at 20 °C less than the central zone). nomial. STATGRAPHICS (Statistical Graphics Corp., Englewood
This resulted in a temperature profile which provided in- Cliffs, N.J., U.S.A., STSC. Inc. 1987) was used for statistical calcu-
creased extrudate viscosity at the die plate, preventing evapora- lations and graphing. The polynomial stated was:
tion of the superheated water before the molten mass exited the
die. This was necessary because the die plate in our equipment y = B0 + B1x1 + B2x2 + B11x12 + B22x22 + B12x1x2 + E
was very short (Smith and others 1982; Batistuti and others 1991;
Bastos and others 1991). Where y = dependent variable (expansion ratio, shear
The independent variables for the extrusion experiments strength, ratio of shear strength to extrudate diameter, density,
were: temperature of the barrel central zone and feed moisture or sensory acceptance of the texture); x1 = feed moisture; x2 =
content: Moisture was adjusted as previously stated. The feed temperature of the central zone of the barrel; E = experimental
hopper and screw feeder provided a steady controlled feed rate error with normal distribution, mean zero and variance s2. The
of 70 g.min–1. Temperature, screw rotation, and feed rate were set order of processing was chosen by randomizing feed moisture
at the extruder controls. Torque and total energy consumption levels at increasing levels of temperature.
were registered on indicator gages on the control panel and re-
corded at each experiment. Antinutritional factors
Trypsin inhibitor activity was evaluated using a casein sub-
Optimization strate, as described by Kakade and others (1969). a-amylase in-
The process was optimized for maximum values of expansion hibitor activity were evaluated using porcine pancreatic a-amy-
ratio, sensory texture acceptability, and shear strength for extru- lase, as described by Lajolo and Finardi Filho, (1984).
dates and for minimum value of density. Initial experiments at Raw and extruded amaranth flours were extracted by a con-
feed moistures of 10 to 20% (d.b.) and central zone temperatures tinuous shaking of a 10% (w/v) flour suspension in 0.1M phos-
of 130-170 °C, showed that good expansion could be obtained at phate buffer, pH 7.2; 0.85% NaCl for 3 h. Agglutinating activity
around 150 °C and 14% moisture. The extruder was stopped at was determined by a serial dilution of the extracted solution in a
10% feed moisture. Minimum feed moisture for proper operation microtitration plate. On each well 2% rabbit red blood cell sus-
of the extruder was 11%. Based on these preliminary experimen- pension was added and agglutinating activity was detected visu-
tal data a central composite design was used with five level varia- ally after 1 hour incubation of the plate at 37 °C and reported as
tion (2Ïw 2, 21, 0, 1, Ïw2 ) (Cochran and Cox 1957; Myers 1971; the reciprocal of the last dilution where agglutination was ob-
Box and others 1978; Akhnazarova and Kafarov, 1982). The ex- served. (Figueroa and Lajolo, 1997).
perimental matrix is shown in Table 1.
The four experimental points (-1, -1), (-1, 1), (1, -1) and (1,1) Results and Discussion
formed a 22 full factorial design. The four additional axial points
( Ïw 2 ,0); (2Ïw 2 ,0); (0,Ïw2 ) and (0,2Ïw2 ) enlarged the region Chemical composition
of dependency. The six central point replicates (0,0) completed Proximate analysis of the raw, defatted, and processed ama-

1010 JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE—Vol. 65, No. 6, 2000


Table 3—Amino acid composition of raw and extruded amaranth processed flours (expressed on a dry basis) (gaa/100g of protein)
13%Moisture 15% Moisture 17% Moisture
FAO/WHO (1985) FAO/WHO (1985)
Name Raw flour 135 °C 165 °C 129 °C 150 °C 171 °C 135 °C 165 °C ( 2-5 years) ( 6-12 years)
Protein 15.83 14.04 14.27 14.62 15.23 14.83 13.88 15.05
Cystine* 3.49 3.59 3.17 3.48 3.34 3.19 3.47 3.39
Aspatic acid 9.04 9.67 9.66 9.78 9.55 9.69 9.55 9.75
Threonine 3.20 3.57 3.49 3.55 3.48 3.48 3.45 3.57 3.4 2.8
Serine 5.76 4.69 4.51 4.71 4.76 4.63 4.97 4.56
Glutamic acid 17.25 18.53 18.63 18.26 18.39 18.34 18.05 18.50
Proline 4.17 4.33 4.50 4.42 4.42 4.40 4.39 4.47
Glycine 8.14 8.47 8.75 8.59 8.65 8.68 8.70 8.67
Alanine 4.0 4.44 4.38 4.33 4.32 4.36 4.27 4.33
Valine 4.87 4.93 5.09 5.00 4.99 5.01 4.89 4.95 3.5 2.5
Methionine* 3.36 3.44 3.29 3.26 3.38 3.47 3.50 3.33 Met+Cys 2.5 2.2
Isoleucine 3.99 4.22 4.21 4.14 4.14 4.18 4.11 4.20 2.8 2.8
Leucine 5.92a 6.40 6.43 6.30 6.30 6.34 6.31 6.39 6.6 4.4
Tyrosine 2.78 1.27 1.32 1.37 1.38 1.35 1.47 1.22
Phenylalanine 4.64 4.26 4.42 4.33 4.34 4.71 4.37 4.42 Fhe+Tyr 6.3 2.2
Histidine 2.93 3.13 3.29 3.31 3.31 3.10 3.21 3.19 1.3 1.9
Lysine 6.48 6.81 6.50 6.74 6.66 6.63 6.76 6.71 5.8 4.4
Tryptophan nd nd nd Nd Nd nd Nd nd 1.1 0.9
Arginine 9.33 8.24 8.35 8.44 8.59 8.45 8.55 8.37
*determined after oxidation; nd = not determined; a first limiting amino acid ; Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) standards for proteins requirements (FAO/WHO 1985).

Table 4 Agglutinating and antitryptic activity of protein extracts (10%


w/v) of raw and extruded amaranth.
Specific Trypsin
Moisture Temperature Protein Agglutinating inibitor 32,768 (Correa and others 1986; Yanéz and others 1994).

Food Engineering and Physical Properties


Samples % °C mg.ml -1 activity (UTI.g-1)* No activity for a-amylase inhibitor was detected in the raw
Raw flour * 7.10 1/16 1550 and extruded amaranth. The trypsin inhibitor activity ranged
13 135 2.29 1/64 2775 from about 1,500 to 4,340 UTI/g in the defatted raw amaranth in
13 165 2.19 1/64 3588 flours extruded at different process temperatures. By compari-
15 129 2.19 1/16 2130
Extruded amaranth 15 150 2.19 1/16 3614
son, we determined that Jalo beans (P. vulgaris) contained 23,300
15 171 2.35 1/16 2900 UTI/g of trypsin inhibitor. The values for all these digestive en-
17 135 2.07 1/16 4340 zyme inhibitors in the amaranth were low and fell within values
17 165 2.22 1/16 3155
reported by other authors (Bressani 1988; Imeri and others
* UTI/g units of Trypsin inibitor/g of flour 1987). The several amaranth grain varieties presently studied
contained a much lower trypsin inhibitor activity than soybean
(Correa and others 1986).
ranth are shown in Table 2. The amino acid composition of raw The essential aminoacid scores for the essential amino acids
and extruded amaranth are presented in Table 3. Amaranth con- were not significantly affected by the extrusion process (Table
tains high levels of sulfur amino acids and lysine. Lysine con- 3). Thus, amaranth seeds are a valuable food resource because
tents in amaranth species are higher than the corresponding val- of its content of a higher level of quality protein compared to oth-
ues forconventional grains. Leucine is usually the first limiting er cereals like wheat and corn.
amino acid (Becker and others 1981; Betschart and others 1981;
Saunders and Becker, 1983; Teutonico and Knorr, 1985,). The am- Physical properties of extruded amaranth
aranth amino acid compositions after extrusion at different mois- The physical properties of the extruded amaranth, obtained
ture and process temperatures presented in Table 3 shows that from the 14 treatments are presented in Table 5. The products
the extrusion process did not affect available aspatic acid, with the most expansion ratio had the most appropriate texture
glutamic acid, glycine and lysine when compared to raw ama- for consumption. This was obtained at 150 °C and 15% moisture.
ranth. These results agree with Bressani and others (1993). Also, the greater the expansion, the greater the shearing force,
These authors and Pedersen and others (1987b) verified that the the less the shear stress, and the greater the textural sensory ac-
popping process decreased the available lysine 19% compared to ceptability.
the raw sample. The extrusion process, however, did not affect
available lysine values as reported by Bressani and others (1993) Expansion ratio
and Koeppe and others (1987). The most expanded extrudates were obtained at 150 °C and
We observed no significant effect of extrusion process tem- 15% moisture (assay number 5, Table 5). The significant linear,
perature on available lysine levels similar to findings by Bressani quadratic and interaction terms from multiple regression and
(1989). A. caudatus had a protein nutritional quality superior to analyses of variance for the full regression are shown in Table 6.
that of conventional grains and the amount of utilizable protein The variance analysis for these data revealed a determination
was higher. The amino acid profile and, in particular, the high coefficient (r2) greater than 0.90 (r2 = 0.9143). An agreement of
lysine content, also makes amaranth grain an attractive protein 90% is expected for the second order polynomial model in food
source to be used alone or combined with other. extrusion (Aguilera and Kosikowski 1976). The results obtained
Table 4 presents the antinutritional factors reported as activi- for expansion ratio indicated that the experimental error was
ties of phytohemaglutinines, trypsin inhibitor and a-amylase in- kept to a minimum.
hibitor. The agglutinating activity was low compared to Jalo bean The results showed that linear effects of moisture and second
(P. vulgaris) which was reported to have a diluting factor of 1/ order effects of both moisture and temperature were significant

Vol. 65, No. 6, 2000—JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE 1011


Extrusion Cooking of Amaranth . . .
Table 5—Independent and response variables extruded of amaranth seeds extrusion experiments.
Acceptance
of texture
Moisture Temperature Expansion Shear force Shear stress Density (mm in a
aAssay % °C ratio (N) (N.m-2) (mg.mm-3) 100mm scale)
n° x1 x2 y1 b y2c y 3d y4e y5f
1 13 135 2.45 ± 0.10 13.1 ± 1.94 3.52 x105± 0.68 x105 0.239 ±2.67 x10-2 45.2 ± 20.87
2 13 165 2.48 ± 0.05 13.7 ± 1.78 3.28 x105 ± 0 48 x105 0.210 ±2.13 x10-2 56.2 ± 21.35
3 17 135 2.47 ± 0.08 13.6 ± 1.89 3.49 x105 ± 0.58 x105 0.254 ± 2.03 x10-2 58.4 ± 18.43
4 17 165 2.32 ± 0.16 13.3 ± 1.84 3.72 x105± 0.75 x105 0.236 ±3.33 x10-2 45.3 ± 24.76
5 15 150 2.84 ± 0.09 13.8 ± 1.28 3.01 x105 ± 0.35 x105 0.227± 3.29 x10-2 68.0 ± 14.65
6 15 150 2.76 ± 0.12 14.5 ± 0.82 2.89 x105 ± 0.27 x105 0.229 ±3.03 x10-2 64.6 ± 16.31
7 15 150 2.75 ± 0.10 13.9 ± 1.31 3.25 x105± 0.35 x105 0.220 ± 1.83 x10-2 68.9 ± 17.55
8 17.8 150 2.24 ± 0.07 14.0 ± 1.40 3.26 x105± 0.37 x105 0.248 ± 2.34 x10-2 47.9 ± 18.78
9 12.2 150 2.48 ± 0.07 13.6 ± 2.15 3.43 x105± 0.57 x105 0.243 ± 2.99 x10-2 62.1 ± 15.72
10 15 171 2.53 ± 0.06 13.2 ± 1.81 2.85 x105± 0.42 x105 0.199 ±2.25 x10-2 61.1 ± 22.78
11 15 128.8 2.48 ± 0.11 13.4 ± 1.98 2.94 x105± 0.46 x105 0.239 ± 2.10 x10-2 59.5 ± 21.25
12 15 150 2.70 ± 0.10 14.2 ± 1.08 2.81 x105± 0.32 x105 0.224 ±2.88 x10-2 63.8 ± 17.11
13 15 150 2.67 ± 0.05 14.2 ± 1.45 2.87 x105± 0.31 x105 0.219 ± 1.48 x10-2 61.4 ± 18.38
14 15 150 2.65 ± 0.13 14.5 ± 0.76 2.91 x105± 0.23 x105 0.236 ± 2.61 x10-2 73.0 ± 16.18
a Does not correspond to order of processing, b Average of 32 determination ± st dev., c Average of 30 determination ± st dev., d Average of 30 determination ± st dev., e Average of 30
determination ± st dev., f Average of 30 panelists ± st dev.

(p < 0.05). The resultant polynomial for this variable was: presented a typical behavior of proteinaceous materials with a
region of maximum expansion ratio for feed moisture content
y1 = 2.73 – 0.060x1 – 0.185 x12 – 0.112 x22 and barrel temperature. Although protein content in amaranth
flour is relatively low (16% dry solid basis), its protein probably
Where coefficient significance levels greater than 0.05 (p > actively participate to the supramolecular network formed upon
0.05), were discarded to build the equations. The response sur- the extrusion process.
Food Engineering and Physical Properties

face for this variable is presented in Fig. 1.


Graphic representation of the expansion ratio showed maxi- Shear strength
ma for both temperature and moisture contents. The predictive The shear strengths of the extruded samples were also deter-
equations obtained for these analyses, allowed a range of prod- mined and the maximum force to shear completely the sample
ucts with variable characteristics attending the various con- was obtained at the central point (15% moisture and 150 °C). The
sumption standards to be obtained. Figure 2 shows the extru- r2 for this variable, from the variance analysis of the multiple re-
dates for all temperatures and feed moisture conditions assayed. gression for the polynomial model, was 0.807 (p < 0.20).The mul-
More uniform texture and the most expanded products were ob- tiple regression analysis showed significant (p < 0.05) quadratic
tained at 150 °C and 15% moisture of the feed. effects of moisture and temperature. The resultant polynomial
Direct linear relationship between low moisture feed content for this variable was:
and high expansion ratios of the extruded products are typical
for cereals (due to high starch content). This can be observed for y2 = 14.2 2 0.221 x12 2 0.476 x22
corn, wheat and pure starch extrusion (Faubion and Hoseney
1982; Guy 1985). Generally, shear strengths of starch extrudates reflect expan-
The present work showed that amaranth, on the other hand, sion volume. The greater the expansion volume, the lower is the

Fig. 2—Extruded amaranth in all conditions of moisture and tempera-


ture.
Fig. 1—Response surface for the effect of feed moisture and pro-
cess temperature on expansion ratio of amaranth extrudates.

1012 JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE—Vol. 65, No. 6, 2000


Table 6—Second order multiple regression analysis for response: region of the minimum response corresponded to the central
expansion ratio (y1).
point.
Independent variable Coefficient t – value Significance level
Constant 2.728 102.796 0.0000 Density
x1 -0.0599 -2.607 0.0313 The determined density of the dried (7.8% moisture) extru-
x2 -0.006 -0.268 0.7954
x 12 -0.185 -7.72 0.0001
dates varied between 0.2 to 0.25 mg.mm –3 (Table 5). Figure 5
x 22 -0.112 -4.694 0.0016 shows the response surface for density as a function of the feed
x1x 2 -0.045 -1.384 0.2036 moisture and process temperature. The results indicated that
only linear effects of both moisture and temperature and second
Sum of Mean F-table order effects of moisture were significant (p < 0.05) and r2 = 0.875.
squares DF square F-Ratio P- value (5%) The resultant polynomial for this variable was:
Model 0.361 5 0.072 17.071 0.0004 3.69
Error 0.034 8 0.004 y 4 = 0.226 1 0.0060 x1 0.013 x2 1 0.010 x12
r2 = 0.9143

The surface presented in Figure 5 indicates that the density


decreased with an increase in process temperature and that
moisture had a quadratic effect. Similar results were observed for
shear strength. (Chinnaswamy and Hanna 1988). In our case, corn starch (Chinnasway and Hanna 1988) and soy flour (Holay
the most expanded, greatest volumes and areas were obtained and Harper 1982). For starchy systems, Gomez and Aguilera
at 150 °C barrel temperature and 15% feed moisture. At this (1984) found that puffing was directly related to temperature
point the highest shear strength also was observed. As men- and inversely related to moisture.
tioned before it seems that amaranth proteins actively partici-
pate to the supramolecular network of the final product. This
produces less expanded products compared to corn (typical ex-
pansion ratios of 3.5 to 4.0) and a more rigid network, resulting in
higher resistance to shear. To assess the actual resistance of the
extrudates to shear correction by the extrudate areas had to be

Food Engineering and Physical Properties


calculated.

Shearing Stress
When the shearing force was divided by extrudate area to ob-
tain a shearing stress (N.m–2) a minimum value was obtained at
the central point (15 % feed moisture and 150 °C barrel tempera-
ture). In this case, only the quadratic effects of moisture were sig-
nificant (> 98%), but the quadratic effects of temperature; and
the linear effects moisture and the interaction term were not sig-
nificant. The resultant polynomial for this variable was:

y3 = 2.96x105 1 28823 x12

This equation indicates that only moisture was correlated


with the response, resulting in the graph presented in Fig. 4. The

Fig. 4—Response surface for the effect of moisture on ratio force to


completely shear the sample corrected by extrudate area.

Fig. 3—Response surface for the effect of feed moisture and pro- Fig. 5—Response surface for the effect of feed moisture and pro-
cess temperature on force to completely shear the amaranth extru- cess temperature on density the amaranth extrudates.
dates.
Vol. 65, No. 6, 2000—JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE 1013
Extrusion Cooking of Amaranth . . .
The maximum sensory acceptance of the texture of the ama-
ranth snack product was verified in the samples processed at
15% moisture and 150 °C process temperature (assay number
14, Table 5), where in fact, maximum scores were assigned by
panelists, indicating higher acceptance of the texture when com-
pared to the standard.

Conclusion

O UR WORK DEMONSTRATED THAT A MARANTH CAUDATUS (OS -


car Blanco CAC-43) can be extruded and used as a high
quality protein snack food in place of corn-based snacks.
In the optimal process, the maximum expansion ratio (ob-
tained at 15% of moisture and 150 °C process temperature) coin-
cided with the maximum shearing force of the product, and max-
imum sensory texture acceptance of the product indicating a cor-
relation between these extrusion response variables.

Fig. 6—Response surface for the effect of feed moisture and pro- References
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Food Engineering and Physical Properties

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extrusion cooking on some functional properties. Meat Sci. 28: 223-236.
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