Physicohemical Properties of Doum (Hyphaene thebaica) Fruits and Utilization of its Flour in Formulating Some Functional Foods

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Horticul. Crop processing, Food Technology Research Institute, A.R. C., Egypt.

Abstract

Doum (Hyphaene thebaica) fruit, and doum-fruit flour (DFF) were studied in terms of physicohemical properties as well as technological processing to prepare biscuits, crackers and pudding containing DFF. Chemical composition showed that DFF possessed low contents of crude protein and crude ether extract being, 2.87 and 0.76%, respectively. Non reducing sugars represented about (91.94 %) of the total sugars (43.70%). The DFF could be considered as a good source of minerals (K, Ca, Na, and Mg). The results also indicated that DFF had very good values in terms of dietary fiber, total phenolic content, flavonoid content and antioxidant activity in addition to some vitamins such as B3, B6 and B1. The edible portion of doum fruits (DFF) was used to formulate some functional foods. The organoleptic properties of biscuits and crackers containing DFF up to 20% and budding up to 50% showed that generally all the treatments were well accepted by the panelists.

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