Effect of Mixing Pumpkin Puree with Wheat Flour on Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Stick Snacks.

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Pumpkin products tend to taste naturally sweet and desirable, and the addition of pumpkins into food increases its beta-carotene. Continuous growth in the snack market has motivated producers to introduce new products using a variety of ingredients in order to improve nutritional values and appearance of their products. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of mixing pumpkin puree with wheat flour on the physicochemical and sensory properties of stick snacks. Four samples were produced using a different percentage of the pumpkin puree content; 10% for Formulation 1 (F1), 20% for Formulation 2 (F2), 30% for Formulation 3 (F3) and 0% for control (C). All samples were analyzed to determine moisture content of samples and texture analysis is performed to determine the degree of hardness and fracturability of pumpkin stick snack. Sensory analysis is performed to determine the level of panel acceptance of attribute such as texture, color, taste, appearance and the overall acceptance of pumpkin stick snacks. Moisture content results show that C has the highest and F3 has the lowest moisture content. For texture analysis, as the percentage of pumpkin puree increased, the hardness and fracturability was increased. Sensory analysis results show that F3 is most accepted by panelist because the highest percentage of pumpkin content compared to other formulations