Functional properties of cereal and legume based extruded snack foods fortified with by-products from herbs and vegetables

Abstract

This study demonstrated the effect of extrusion processing on the functional properties of extruded snack foods developed from cereal and legumes, and the by-products from herbs and vegetables. The functional properties considered were antioxidant capacity, total phenolic compounds and resistant starch content. The results showed that Japanese green tea had the highest antioxidant capacity and phenolic content (68.31mmol Trolox/g and 337.58 mg GAE/g, respectively) and egoma leaves had the second highest (8.35 mmol Trolox/g and 60.60 mg GAE/g, respectively). Red kidney beans had the highest resistant starch content (33.78 % w/w) and corn grits had the second highest content (13.67% w/w). The extrusion process slightly decreased the antioxidant capacity (3.61-13.07%) and phenolic content (4.54-29.75%), but substantially decreased the resistant starch content (89.17-96.33%) for all extruded products. The extrusion process was suitable to produce functional snack foods, while retaining their antioxidant capacity.