PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF INSTANT NOODLES FORTIFIED WITH POMEGRANATE PEEL

Abstract

Pomegranate peels are characterized by high levels of fibers, phenols, antioxidatents and minerals levels. The chemical composition indicates that the pomegranate peels contain 5.3% ash, 12.11% fibers and 58.38 g/100gm dietary fibers. The soluble part of the total amount of fibers is about 34.25%. Antioxidants activity of pomegranate peels was 90.14% RSA, while total phenol content reached 145 mg GAE/100gm. The noodles were fortified with 2 and 5% pomegranate peels powder. The dietary fibers content of pomegranate peel noodles doubled as the pomegranate peels content reached 5% compared with control. The phenols content increase to 43.91 and to 48.30 when the pomegranate peels was added by 2% and 5% respectively. The antioxidant activity increased 2.15 folds and 3.66 folds, compared with control, after adding of 2% and 5% pomegranate peels respectively. The addition of pomegranate peels significantly increased the water absorption, weight percent and volume compared with control. Noodles with pomegranate peels had higher sensory scores, except in firmness, in comparison with control. The results obtained in this study suggest that acceptable noodles in terms of physicochemical and sensory properties could be produced by incorporating pomegranate peels into noodles up to 5%.