Enhancement of Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Noodles Formulated with Spinach Leaves and Sugar Beet

Abstract

The current work assesses the potential of incorporating spinach leaves (SL) and sugar beet powder (SBP) as functional ingredients at 5% in preparing nutrients dense noodles. The chemical composition, antioxidant properties, cooking quality and acceptability by a consumer sensory panel ( n = 10) were evaluated. Results showed that noodles formulated with SL and SBP exhibited significant increase in moisture, ash crude fiber and minerals in correlation to the control. Meanwhile, minor change was observed in fat and protein content compared with control noodle. For evaluating antioxidant properties, radical scavenging activity of 2,2 -diphenyl - 1 -picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), total phenolic content (TPC) as well as total flavonoid content (TFC) were assessed. Results revealed that SL and SBP noodles were significantly superior in antioxidants quality than those of the control samples (p < 0.05). SL -noodles exhibited the highest total phenol content (381.66) mg GAE/100g, whereas SBP -noodles showed the highest antioxidant activity expressed as DPPH (18.20%) as well as the highest total flavonoid content (46.19) mg RE/100 g Incorporation of SL and SBP modifies functional quality of noodles i.e. cooking time, cooking loss, water absorption, swelling index and noodles' color. SBP -noodles cooking quality showed increased cooking time as well as water uptake. Greenness as well as redness increased significantly for SL and SBP noodles respectively. The sensory studies recommended the incorporation of SL and SBP to the noodles to attain desired sensory quality without affecting the overall acceptability. SL and SBP -noodles could therefore be used to produce high -quality noodles with nutritional -promoting properties.