Abstract:
The current food market shifts towards the development of healthy snacks.
Crackers are popular as healthy snacks and a good source to enhance the
nutritional value by incorporating natural ingredients. In the present study,
dietary fiber content of the crackers was improved by incorporating defatted
coconut flour (DCF) which is the whitish defatted kernel residue left in the
virgin coconut oil (VCO) extraction process. Palm oil was replaced with VCO
for cracker preparation. The chemical and functional properties of DCF and all purpose wheat flour (WF) were studied. Crackers were prepared by
incorporating DCF into WF at 10, 20, 30, 40% (w/w). Sensory evaluation was
conducted using a 5-point hedonic scale with 21 panellists evaluating the
crackers based on color, crispiness, texture, taste and overall acceptability.
Physico-chemical characteristics and shelf life of the samples were evaluated
after packing in triple laminated Aluminum foil and stored under ambient
conditions. DCF was characterized with significantly higher crude fiber
(17.69%), protein (22.10%) and mineral content (6.17%) than WF. The water
holding capacity, bulk density and oil holding capacities of DCF were
significantly higher than WF (p<0.05). Based on sensory results crackers
produced with up to the level of 30% DCF were selected for further analysis.
All the prepared crackers had significantly higher (p<0.05) protein, mineral and
fiber contents compared to the control (100% WF). As the concentration of DCF
was increased, spread ratio and weight of the crackers increased while thickness
and puffiness of the crackers were decreased. Although cracker samples showed
good acceptability at the beginning, their keeping quality decreased with the
increasing level of defatted coconut flour. The results revealed that up to 20%
(w/w) DCF can be incorporated in formulation crackers without compromising
the physico-chemical and sensory attributes. The outcome of this study
demonstrates the potential for industrial exploitation of DCF through processing
into healthy snack food items such as crackers.
