Efecto de la incorporación de polvo de hojas de moringa seca en las propiedades fisicoquímicas y sensoriales de galletas saladas tipo snack

Abstract

[ES] Debido al creciente interés actual de la sociedad en mejorar el perfil nutricional, la reformulación de alimentos se presenta como aspecto clave para la industria alimentaria. En esta línea, la Moringa oleifera, una planta originaria de la India con un alto poder nutricional, puede ser una alternativa como fortificante de productos alimentarios. Así, las diferentes partes la planta (hojas, semillas, flores, vainas, raíces ) pueden comercializarse por sus atributos nutricionales y medicinales. En el caso concreto de la las hojas, su incorporación a matrices alimentarias en forma de polvo seco podría mejorar su contenido en antioxidantes, proteínas y fibra. Por ello, la propuesta que se plantea para este Trabajo Final del Máster de Ingeniería Agronómica es la evaluación del efecto de la incorporación de polvo de hojas de moringa seca en galletas saladas, en la composición, la capacidad antioxidante y los fenoles totales, así como en las propiedades mecánicas y ópticas, analizando también su aceptación sensorial.

[EN] Due to society's current growing interest in improving the nutritional profile, food reformulation is a key issue for the food industry. In this regard, Moringa oleifera, a plant native to India with a high nutritional power, can be an alternative as a fortifier for food products. Thus, the different parts of the plant (leaves, seeds, flowers, pods, roots ) can be marketed for their nutritional and medicinal attributes. In the specific case of the leaves, their incorporation into food matrices in the form of dry powder could improve their antioxidant, protein and fibre content. Therefore, in this Final Project of the Master's Degree in Agronomic Engineering, an evaluation of the effect of replacing wheat flour with dried moringa leaf powder in snack crackers has been carried out. The results obtained showed that the thickness and volume of the crackers was similar for all formulations, while the percentage of weight loss decreased with the level of moringa incorporation. The high water holding capacity of moringa leaf powder and its protein content were related to the increased moisture and decreased water activity of the biscuits, which also resulted in decreased firmness. The colour became more greenish with brownish tones as the replacement level increased. Antioxidant capacity and total phenols were higher with the percentage of moringa incorporated into the biscuit due to the content of phytochemical compounds in the moringa leaves, which also persist after baking. The protein content increased as the percentage of moringa powder incorporated increased, allowing all the biscuits in this study to be labelled as "protein source". On the other hand, from a sensory point of view, the judges penalised the colour, aroma and flavour attributes in the biscuit with the highest moringa content (10%) as being too intense. In conclusion, a substitution of up to 5% of wheat flour by dry leaf powder in snack crackers could improve the nutritional profile of these products traditionally made mainly with wheat flour, with good consumer acceptance.