Development of Gluten Free Snacks Fortified with Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) Powder

Abstract

Portulaca oleracea (Portulacaceae family) is listed in the World Health Organization as one of the most used medicinal plants. It has been described as a "power food" of future because of its high nutritive and its anti-oxidant properties. Purslane, has high content of protein, ash and fiber and is a good source of minerals. Also, it has a high content of phenols (179.89 mg/100gm) and omega 3 fatty acid (44.29%). The radical scavenging activity (RSA) of purslane is high (89.23%). Rice flour was fortified by three levels of puslane powder and the snacks were subjected to the physicochemical and sensory analysis. The addition of purslane had significantly increased the protein, ash and fiber contents of extruded snacks as the amount of purslane increased. Also the addition of purslane caused increased in iron, zinc and calcium content to double. The total phenol content of the purslane fortified snacks increased as the amount of purslane increased. The addition of 10% purslane caused an increase in antioxidant to 87.28% compared with 67.44% for control. It can be noticed that, the addition of purslane had significantly increased linolenic (omega 3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid. The fortification with 2% purslane showed to be the most preferable fortified extrudes sample. Therefore, purslane could successfully be used to enrich snacks, giving an alternative utilization and healthy choice.