Chemical composition, cooking quality, and consumer acceptance

of pasta made with dried amaranth leaves our

R. Borneo
a, b,
*
, A. Aguirre
b
a
S C P P C C P k D C D k ) , M C ! , 6 C ,
C H S M P , S M P 51 54 , C , /
b
l C , l N , C Q / , U N C , C , /
a r t i c l e i n f o
/ :
Received 5 December 2007
Received in revised form 27 February 2008
Accepted 28 February 2008
K :
Amaranth
Spinach
Pasta
Quality
a b s t r a c t
Pasta is a staple food in many countries. Amaranth is a pseudo-cereal being re-discovered because of its
nutritional properties. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of the green ma-
terial of the amaranth plant (leaves) as a component for pasta production and its effect on the pasta
quality and consumer acceptance. Dried amaranth (/ ) leaves and spinach leaves
ours were prepared. Pasta samples were manufactured following a small-scale pilot procedure. Ama-
ranth pasta samples were evaluated for its chemical composition, cooking quality, textural, and sensory/
consumer acceptance. Results showed that pasta made with dried amaranth leaves had similar chemical
composition (protein content: 14.18 g/100 g, Fe content: 9.1 mg/100 g), cooking quality (2.15 pasta
weight increase, 4.47% residue loss), textural characteristics (rmness and adhesiveness), and sensory
acceptance than green pasta made with dried spinach leaves. Since amaranth leaves have similar nu-
tritional characteristics to spinach leaves and since this biomass in not currently used for food purposes,
this study points out that amaranth leaves could be technically used for pasta production and that
consumer acceptance of pasta made with amaranth green leaves our is similar to that of pasta made
with spinach.
2008 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Amaranth is a tropical plant that has not been and is not fully
exploited. Efforts are underway to rescue the prestige that this
plant had long time ago. In pre-Hispanic times, the small amaranth
seed, known to the Mayan people as Huautli, was part of their
everyday diet in addition to corn and beans. Its growing area ex-
tended from South-West present USA to Argentina. The major area
of cultivation was in Mexico and around the year 1400 (Putnam,
1990). It has been estimated that more than 20,000 tons/year of
amaranth was harvested for food purposes (Tosi & Re , 2003).
Today, amaranth is gaining acceptance and it is being re-
discovered due to its nutritional characteristics. Amaranth is being
grown today in Ecuador, Peru , Bolivia, Me xico, Guatemala, and
Argentina. Within Argentina amaranth is cultivated in the North-
West regions and in the South-Central Pampas (Tosi & Re , 2003).
The areas with the most potential are the provinces of Santiago del
Estero, Co rdoba, La Pampa, and the western part of Buenos Aires
(Pantanelli, 2001).
Amaranth is a versatile plant since it can grow under a broad
range of climate, soil, and cultivar systems (Bertoni, 1999). This
makes amaranth suitable for both small- and big scale production
systems. It has been estimated that amaranth leaves have similar
nutritional composition than green leafy plants such as spinach and
many others (Mujica & Berti, 1997). The most valuable character-
istic of amaranth seeds and dry leaves may be that they contain
a high proportion of high quality protein.
Amaranth is not a true cereal such as wheat, corn, and barley. It
is known as a pseudo-cereal. Botanically, it pertains to the Amar-
anthaceae family. The genus / consists of approximately
60 plant species of Amaranth, the majority of which are wild
(Stallknecht & Schultz-Schaeffer, 1993). Some of them are used as
food (grain). Others as ornamental (ower) and some are simple
weeds with no use at all. / , /
, and / are the most widely
used for grain (Teutonico & Knorr, 1985). Due to their great variety
of the / genus, taxonomic classication is very complex
(Weber, 1990).
The most valuable characteristic of amaranth seeds and dry
leaves may be that they contain a high proportion of high quality
* Corresponding author. Subsecretara Centro de Excelencia en Productos y
Procesos Co rdoba (CEPROCOR), Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologa, Gobierno de
Co rdoba, Complejo Hospitalario Santa Mara de Punilla, Santa Mara de Punilla
5164, Co rdoba, Argentina. Tel.: 54 3541 489 650; fax: 54 3541 488 181.
- : bornraf@gmail.com (R. Borneo).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
LWT - Food Science and Technology
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ l wt
LWT - Food Science and Technology 41 (2008) 17481751
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
LWT - Food Science and Technology
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ l wt
0023-6438/$34.00 2008 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2008.02.011
protein. Lysine content is 33.5 times that of corn and 22.5 higher
than in wheat. Amaranth is appropriate for people who are allergic
to gluten (Svirskis, 2003). The amaranth seeds have about 7% of fat.
Around 8% of this fat is squalene, a highly regarded compound by
the pharmaceutical industry. Amaranth oil and squalene are used
for oncological treatments, sclerosis, malfunction of the brain, im-
munodecient states, skin, stomach and liver diseases, wounds,
bedsores, and ulcers (Bogolyubov, 1999).
Pasta is a staple food in many countries. It is mainly used as an
energy source due to its high content of carbohydrates. However,
pasta is a poor source of protein (unless supplemented) and its
protein has a low amount of the essential amino acid lysine. We
believe that pasta is an excellent vehicle for supplementation with
minerals, proteins, and many other valuable healthy components.
As a matter of fact, pasta could be appropriately designed and
function as a functional food if healthy components could be in-
corporated into its formulation.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the green material of the
amaranth plant (leaves) as a component for green pasta production
and its effect on quality and consumer acceptance. Green pasta is
already in the market mainly with spinach in its formulation. Since
amaranth leaves are said to have similar nutritional quality to
spinach and other green materials (Shukla et al., 2006; Yadav &
Sehgal, 2002), we believe that green leaves fromamaranth could be
successfully used in pasta production. We also believe that if this is
the case some value could be added to the amaranth production
systems. Not only will the grain be valuable from the amaranth
plant but also its green parts (leaves).
2. Materials and methods
2 .1 . M
Commercial pasta wheat our (12 g/100 g moisture, 10.2 g/100 g
protein) and spinach (S ) were purchased from a lo-
cal store. Leaves from amaranth (/ . ) were donated by the
Experimental Agricultural Station of the Universidad Nacional de
Co rdoba, Co rdoba, Argentina. Spinach and amaranth leaves were
washed, rinsed, and air dried at roomtemperature (2530

C) until
constant weight was attained. Residual moisture of 5 g/100 g to 7 g/100 g
was present in the nal dried samples.
Dried leaves were milled (Rocklabs Bench Disc Mill, Auckland,
New Zealand) and sifted (Zonytest Sifter, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
to produce spinach green leaves and amaranth green leaves ours
(ours passed a 250 mmsieve, W.S. Tyler, USA). Flours samples were
stored in air-tight dark plastic bottles until needed for pasta
production.
All chemical reagents were purchased from local laboratory
suppliers and were of analytical grade.
2 . 2 . P
A small-scale standardized laboratory procedure was used for
pasta manufacture. Two different types of pasta were manufac-
tured: pasta with spinach green leaves (SGL) our and pasta with
amaranth green leaves (AGL) our. All dried components of the
formula (our, SGL or AGL ours, and salt, see Table 1) were mixed
in a Hobart bench top mixer (Hobart Inc., Troy, OH, USA) at low
speed until a uniform mix was achieved. Whole liquid eggs and
water were added and mixed at lowspeed until the dough had an
adequate consistency for lamination. The dough was divided by
hand in appropriate sizes and was laminated using a pasta home-
scale size lamination machine (Drago, Inc., China) using a 3-step
procedure: hand lamination, up to approximately 10-mm thick-
ness; roll lamination, up to a 5-mm thickness; and nal roll lami-
nation to a 2-mm thickness (nal pasta thickness).
Wheat our was used to avoid and prevent pasta sticking to
laminating rolls. Laminated pasta sheets were cut using a cutting
roll (2-mm wide). Pasta was kept at refrigeration temperatures (4
5

C) until needed for further analysis (no more than 3 h).
2 . J . C
Each pasta sample was analyzed for crude protein, crude fat,
crude ber, and Fe content. All testing was preformed according to
the ofcial methods of analysis of the Association of Ofcial Ana-
lytical Chemists (AOAC, 2000).
2 . 4 . C
Cooking quality of the manufactured pasta was evaluated using
ofcial methods 16-50 and 16-51 of the American Association of
Cereal Chemists (AACC, 2000). Optimum cooking time, weight gain
by pasta, and solid lost during cooking were evaluated.
Texture of fresh (non-cooked) and cooked pasta was analyzed
using a Texture Analyzer TA-XT2i (Stable Micro System, Surrey, UK).
Firmness (hardness) and adhesiveness were evaluated using Ap-
plication Study Ref N002/P35 (Stable Micro System, 2000). A
P/35 cylinder probe (Stable Micro System, Surrey, UK) was used,
force was measured in compression mode at xed 75% strain.
2 . 5 . S
Pasta made with spinach or amaranth leaves were evaluated by
a consumer panel within 24 h of preparation. They were kept in
polyethylene bags at refrigeration temperatures (46

C) until
needed. Pasta samples were cooked (2 min, boiling water),
strained, rinsed, and cooled in water at 20

C. Before testing pasta
was removed from water and placed in plastic cups for evaluation.
Samples were evaluated for the degree of liking for the color, taste,
aroma, texture (mouth), and overall liking. Participants were
instructed to rinse with water (20

C) before they began testing and
between samples.
Before testing all participants were asked for possible food aller-
gies to wheat or wheat components, spinach and/or amaranth.
Table 1
Formulations for pasta made with spinach green leaves (SGL) our and amaranth
green leaves (AGL) our
a
Ingredients Pasta with SGL (g)
b
Pasta with AGL (g)
b
Flour (wheat) 1000 1000
Spinach leaves our
b
250
Amaranth leaves our
b
250
Eggs
c
160 160
Salt 20 20
a
Distilled water added to achieve proper consistency for pasta production (nal
approx. water absorption 3335 g/100 g).
b
See Section 2 for details on SGL and AML our preparation.
c
Whole liquid egg (to prepare whole liquid egg, eggs are cracked, shell discarded,
and egg yolks and whites homogenized, this homogenized mix is weighted).
Table 2
Protein, ber, fat and Fe content of pastas made with spinach green leaves (SGL) our
and amaranth green leaves (AGL) our
a
Pasta with SGL
b
Pasta with AGL
b
Protein content 13.88 1.25a 14.18 1.15a
Crude ber 4.12 0.55a 5.79 0.48a
Crude fat 4.13 0.75a 3.14 0.99a
Fe content
c
19.9 0.4a 9.1 0.2b
a
Samples with different letters within same le indicates statistically signicant
difference at the 0.05 level.
b
Gram on a 100 g dry basis (except for Fe content).
c
Milligram on a 100 g dry basis.
k . 8 , / . / / L ! - l S ! 41 2 0 0 8 ) 1 Z4 8 1 Z51 1749
Participants were briefed on the objective of the study without re-
vealing any informationthat might have compromisedthe validityof
the test.
Forty-ve healthy adults participated in the study. All partici-
pants had consumed pasta before and only one (of the 45) had
never consumed green pasta. Rating were collected using a 5-he-
donic scale where 1 dislike extremely and 5 like extremely.
The mid-point of the scale (3) neither like nor dislike. Participants
were asked to complete paper ballots. They were also asked which
pasta they preferred and which pasta they thought contained
amaranth leaves.
2 . 5. S
One lot of each pasta sample (SLP and ALP) was manufactured
on 3 different days (total of 3 lots). Each pasta lot was subjected to
chemical and cooking quality analysis so as to have 3 true repli-
cates. Each sample was analyzed by triplicate for all chemical and
cooking quality analysis. Mean and standard deviations were
reported. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test for
differences among samples and the Least Signicant Difference
(LSD) statistical analysis to establish which samples were statisti-
cally different. A level of signicance of 0.05 was used on all sta-
tistical analysis. ANOVA and c
2
analysis were used to analyze
sensory results in this study.
3. Results and discussion
J .1 . C
Pasta made with Amaranth Green Leaves (AGL) our and pasta
made with Spinach Green Leaves (SGL) our (according to formulas
presented in Table 1) were analyzed for protein, fat, ber, and Fe
content. Results of these analyses are shown in Table 2.
Except for the Fe content, pasta made from AGL or SGL our did
not differ signicantly and statistically ( <0.05) in the amount of
moisture, fat, protein, crude ber, and total carbohydrate present.
Pasta made with spinach leaves had a statistically signicant higher
content of Fe than pasta made with amaranth leaves. These dif-
ferences in Fe content correlated with the amount of Fe present on
the green leaves ours (data not shown, amaranth leaves our had
almost half the Fe content of spinach green leave our).
J . 2 . P
There were no observed differences in processing for pasta
made with AGL our or SGL our. Mixing and laminating was
identical for both mixes. Perhaps pasta made with spinach leaves
was a little bit stickier than the one made with amaranth leaves.
This was based on pure visual observations. However, as shown on
Fig. 2 adhesiveness (measured by the Texturometer) was higher for
rawpasta made with SGL our. Water absorption for the mix which
contained SGL our was also a little higher (data not shown).
Pasta cooking quality parameters evaluated in this study are
reported in Table 3. There was no statistically signicant difference
in optimum cooking time. Optimum cooking time was dened as
the cooking time needed for the white pasta center core to dis-
appear when pasta was squeezed between 2 glass plates
(2.5 cm2.5 cm). This optimum cooking time was around 3 min
for both types of pasta.
The other quality parameters (cooking loss and percentage of
weight increase) were evaluated at a standard cooking time of
3 min for results to be comparable. Overcooking quality (resistance
of pasta to overcooking) was evaluated at twice the optimum
cooking time (6 min). Regarding cooking (3 min) there was a sta-
tistically signicant difference ( <0.05) in the percentage of solids
Table 3
Cooking quality parameters for pasta made with spinach green leaves (SGL) our
and amaranth green leaves (AGL) our
a
Optimum
cooking
time (min)
Cooking quality
b
Overcooking quality
c
Percentage
weight
increase (%)
Solid loss (%) Percentage
weight
increase (%)
Solid loss (%)
Pasta with SGL 3.0 0.1a 210 10a 6.14 0.98a 255 15a 11.20 1.10a
Pasta with AGL 3.1 0.2a 215 5a 4.47 1.05b 269 12a 9.50 1.41b
a
Samples with same letter within same column are statistically equal at the 0.05
level.
b
Cooking time: 3 min.
c
Overcooking time: 6 min.
7,78
3,49
10,31
3,27
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Raw Pasta Cooked Pasta
F
o
r
c
e

(
k
)
a
a
a
b
Fig. 1. Firmness (objectively measured) of pasta (raw and cooked) made with spinach
green leaves our or amaranth green leaves our (,pasta with spinach, -pasta with
amaranth; bars with a different letter in each pasta group are statistically different at
the 0.05 level).
-92,76
-53,3
-46,72
-36,8
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
Raw Pasta Cooked Pasta
A
d
h
e
s
i
v
e
n
e
s
s

(
g
.
s
-
1
)
a a a b
Fig. 2. Adhesiveness (objectively measured) of pasta (raw and cooked) made with
spinach green leaves our or amaranth green leaves our (, pasta with spinach, -
pasta with amaranth; bars with a different letter in each pasta group are statistically
different at the 0.05 level).
-2000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
0 60 120 180 240
Time ( s)
F
o
r
c
e

(
g
)
Hardness (g)
Adhesiveness
(g.s
-1
)
Fig. 3. Typical forcetime curve obtained with the Texturomete r to evaluate rmness
(hardness) and adhesiveness of raw and cooked pasta (sample: raw pasta made with
AGL our).
k . 8 , / . / / L ! - l S ! 41 2 0 0 8 ) 1 Z4 8 1 Z51 1750
lost, being the percent of solid loss higher for pasta made with SGL
our (6.14%) when compared with pasta made with AGL our
(4.47%). At 3-min cooking time the percentage of weight increase
was statistically equal for both types of pasta (Table 3).
Regarding overcooking (6 min) pasta made with AGL our was
more resistant since it experienced less solid losses (pasta with AGL
our: 9.50 g/100 g; pasta with SGL our: 11.20 g/100 g). Percentage
of weight increase was the same for both types of pasta (Table 3).
Figs. 1 and 2 compare the rmness and adhesiveness of both raw
and cooked (3 min) pasta samples made with SGL and AGL ours. A
Texture Analyzer (TA) was used. In this analysis, we used a 35-mm
cylindrical probe and compressed a sample consisting of 3 strands
of pasta at xed strain (75%). A typical forcetime plot can be seen
in Fig. 3. Firmness (hardness) is dened as the maximumpeak force
obtained at 75% strain while adhesiveness is dened as the neg-
ative area under the curve when the probe lifts up from the
sample. Firmness (Fig. 1) was higher for raw pasta made with AGL
our. Although people will not eat pasta in its raw state differences
in rmness may have processing implications. During trans-
portation of pasta by mechanical devices a certain degree of
hardness is needed for proper handling and to avoid damage to the
product. After cooking for 3 min (optimum cooking time) no sta-
tistical difference was observed with regard to hardness (rmness).
Adhesiveness (Fig. 2) was another objectively measured textural
characteristic in both rawand cooked pasta. Statistically signicant
differences were obtained for adhesiveness in raw pasta. Samples
made with SGL our had the highest values of adhesiveness. A more
adhesive pasta may have implications during transportation by
mechanical means since stickier pasta may adhere to surface and
certain problems may arise. After cooking no differences were ob-
served for adhesiveness between pasta made with SGL and AGL
ours.
J . J . S
In general, panelists gave higher acceptance ratings (Fig. 4) to
pasta made with spinach green leaves (SGL) our. However, pan-
elists did not differ in their acceptance ratings for pasta made with
AGL our, relative to the one made with SGL our, as shown on
Table 4. Liking ratings did not differ statistically between pasta
made with AGL and SGL ours for any of the attributes tested (color,
aroma, taste, texture, and overall). In addition, participants had no
preference for either pasta (although 54% of participants liked the
pasta made with SGL our). Only 53% of panelists correctly iden-
tied the pasta made with amaranth leaves. Participants did not
perform better than chance in either test (c
2
0.5 and 1.0, for
preference and identication, respectively, non-signicant).
Although in this study we used a single source of amaranth, the
results (only pertaining to the amaranth samples used) showed
that amaranth leaves did not affect negatively any of the sensory
attributes tested in this study, did not impart objectionable off-
avors, were acceptable to panelists, and were liked similarly to the
pasta made with spinach leaves. Also, cooking quality and nutri-
tional value (evaluated as protein and Fe content) of pasta made
with amaranth leaves did not differ signicantly from pasta made
with spinach our. We believe that amaranth leaves could suc-
cessfully be used in pasta production.
References
AACC. (2000). D / / C C . St.
Paul, MN, USA: AACC.
AOAC. (2000). In W. Horwitz (Ed.), D /
D / C (17th ed.). Washington, DC, USA: AOAC.
Bertoni, M. H. Los Amarantos Granferos y Hortcolas: sus caractersticas
nutricionales. Conferencia organizada por ILSI Argentina, April 27, 1999. p. 28.
Bogolyubov, I. S. (1999). k S H . Tverj, p. 62 (2nd ed.)
[cited by Svirskis, A. (2003). Investigation of amaranth cultivation and
utilization in Lithuania. / k , 1 (2), 253264].
Mujica, A., & Berti, D. M. (1997). : ,
. Roma, Italia. pp. 145178.
Pantanelli, A. (2001). / / , 1 8, 6.
Putnam, D. H. (1990). Agronomic practices for amaranth. In P 4
(pp. 151162). Emmans, PA: Rodale Press.
Shukla, S., Bhargava, A., Chatterjee, A., Srivastavva, J., Singh, N., & Singh, S. P. (2006).
Mineral prole and variability in vegetable amaranth (/ ).
P l H N , 51, 2328.
Stable Micro System. (2000). C
. TA-XT2i Application Study N002/P35, Surrey, UK.
Stallknecht, G. F., & Schultz-Schaeffer, J. R. (1993). Amaranth rediscovered. In N
(pp. 211218). New York: Wiley.
Svirskis, A. (2003). Investigation of amaranth cultivation and utilization in
Lithuania. / k , 1 (2), 253264.
Teutonico, R. A., & Knorr, D. (1985). Amaranth: composition, properties and appli-
cations of a rediscovered food crop. l ! , J 9(4), 4960.
Tosi, E., & Re , E. D. (2003). Amaranto: su aplicacio n en la alimentacio n humana.
/ / , 8 2(2), 1516.
Weber, A. (1990). / . Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press. p. 28.
Yadav, S. K., & Sehgal, S. (2002). Effect of domestic processing and cooking methods
on total, HCl extractable iron, and in vitro availability of iron in spinach and
amaranth leaves. N H , 1 5(2), 113120.
3
,
6
2
3
,
0
5
3
,
7
4
3
,
8
5
3
,
5
2
2
,
9
4
3
,
6
6
3
,
2
8
3
,
0
5
3
,
3
1
1
2
3
4
Color Aroma Taste Texture Overall
Attribute
L
i
k
i
n
g

R
a
t
i
n
g
Fig. 4. Consumer acceptance of cooked pasta made with spinach green or amaranth
green leaves ours (, pasta with spinach, - pasta with amaranth; no signicant
differences were observed at the 0.05 level in each attribute between the 2 different
types of pasta).
Table 4
Mean (SD) liking ratings for all attributes of pasta made with spinach green leaves
(SGL) our and amaranth green leaves (AGL) our
a,b
Sensory attributes
Color Aroma Taste Texture Overall
Pasta with SGL 3.62 0.34 3.05 0.35 3.74 0.25 3.52 0.30 3.85 0.30
Pasta with AGL 3.31 0.36 2.94 0.37 3.66 0.32 3.05 0.45 3.45 0.32
a
Data collected on a 5-point category scale (1 strongly disliked; 5 strongly
liked).
b
No signicant differences ( <0.05) were found between both types of pasta.
k . 8 , / . / / L ! - l S ! 41 2 0 0 8 ) 1 Z4 8 1 Z51 1751