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Development & Quality Analysis of Buckwheat Flour Biscuits
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Thursday, 07 March, 2019, 15 : 00 PM [IST]
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Reshma Khan
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Nostalgia
Are you still famished when you get home after a hectic day?
Here’s an idea, conjure yourself with a pile of biscuits. When I was growing up, it was those mini heart shaped cookies or round crispy biscuit was what I craved, and it was always a crowd-pleaser.
Everybody knows about the British and Portuguese influence on Indian food, but not a lot know about Dutch fingerprints on biscuits. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is triangle shaped “pseudocereal” persisted through centuries of civilisation. But a variety developed in Canada was widely planted in China. Dispersal around the globe was complete by 2006. Aspects such as increasing consumption of buckwheat in food and beverage sector, increased innovations in food resulting in traction of multigrain wheat products, RTC (ready-to-cook) /RTE (ready-to-eat) healthy meals in the food industry.
In India, buckwheat flour is known as kuttu ka atta and is culturally associated with the Navratri festival. On the day of this festival, food items made only from buckwheat are consumed. The application of buckwheat in the food and beverage sector is mainly into snacks, beverages and bakery products and is the second-largest to reflect high lucrative segment in global buckwheat market in the years to follow.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat is piping its applications throughout food industry, beverage industry, cosmetics industry, textile industry and others. In food industry, the buckbean is used to make varieties of food products such as buckwheat noodles, buckwheat honey, buckwheat flour, and in beverage industry in preparing whisky, beer, spirits and so on.
Buckwheat is highly valued for its vitamins such as A, D, B12, B6, niacin & thiamin and nutrients such as starch 70–91%, Lipid 1.5–4%, proteins12–18% with all essential amino acid lysine, threonine, tryptophan, sulphur, polysaccharides, dietary fibre, lipids, polyphenols, micro- and macronutrients, antioxidants unlike common cereals.
Buckwheat has several nutraceuticals properties. It helps to reduce inflammation and lower “bad cholesterol” levels. This nutritious seed helps with diabetes management and may improve insulin resistance. It’s naturally gluten-free which makes it a great choice for people suffering from Celiac disease. Buckwheat flour may alleviate obesity, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.
Going for a Makeover
Millennial have fetish towards gluten-free, composite flour bakery products and fortified foods. Increased awareness and demand among consumers have paradigm shift in their taste & preferences. The Indian biscuit market is estimated to reach $8.2 billion by 2023. Introducing buckwheat as an alternative crop in baking industries has accommodated the taste, novelty, convenience and nutrition into the overall portfolio to cater to the consumer healthier choices.
Buckwheat biscuit contained higher amount of fibre, protein and fat and lower amount of moisture content and carbohydrate than refined wheat flour biscuits and is a suitable vehicle for incorporation of functional ingredients with wheat, oats, rye and barley in healthy foods.
Buckwheat biscuits are leavened by baking powder and contain flour (20-50% of buckwheat flour with wheat flour or refined wheat flour), fat, milk, and salt. The dough is prepared by rolling, dropping or beating giving it a distinct appearance and texture. Buckwheat does not contain gluten as a result, the biscuits are tender and sometimes flaky.
Biscuits are dehydrated in oven up to 105°C as temperature is important when making biscuits. Flour, fat and the liquid, usually heavy cream or milk, used to make the dough must be chilled as it is important because they minimise gluten development. Hence, food industries are considering fortification with existing product considering it as economic, nutritional importance.
Quality Analysis
When it comes to biscuits it’s evaluated for overall acceptability, texture, colour, taste, and aroma. Determination of moisture content, ash content, crude fibre, protein and fat content was to know its proximate composition. Whereas functional analysis like water absorption capacity as it is responsible to achieve desired consistency and create a quality end-product. Physical properties can be determined by evaluating thickness using Vernier calipers which depicts easy stacking of biscuits in a pack of 6 or 12. Texture profile analysis of biscuit samples are calculated by hardness and fracturability analysis of the biscuit samples using the TA-XT Plus texture analyser. Sensory analysis of biscuits is the most important evaluation consisted of judging the quality of prepared biscuits by a panel of five judges. They provide a profound rating as per Hedonic test used to measure on a scale of 9 points from “like extremely” to “dislike extremely.”
Have One
Buckwheat biscuit is caryopses filled with nutrients ceaselessly to curb your appetite. Development and utilisation of such functional foods will not only improve the nutritional status of the population but also helps those suffering from several diseases. More studies should be conducted to investigate the possibility of using buckwheat flour as an ingredient in other food products in order to increase applications of such value-added food ingredients. It is a healthy alternative that is not only acceptable to consumers, but can be manufactured under strict commercial conditions.
(The author is M Tech in food processing & technology from SHUATS)
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