COOKIES FROM COMPOSITE WHEAT-MESQUITE FLOURS: CHARACTERIZATION DURING

STORAGE

R.P. Gusmão1*, T.A.S. Gusmão1, M.E.R.M. Cavalcanti-Mata1, M.E.M. Duarte1

1. Department of Food Engineering, Campina Grande, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil
*e-mail: (rennangusmao@gmail.com.br)
483

INTRODUCTION Figure 2–Behavior of the water activity (A),firmness (B), fracturability (C) and brightness
(D) during storage for 120 days
Cookies are widely consumed in the world with their eating convenience
and long shelf life (Agama-Acevedo et al., 2012). The development of new
products is an alternative for adaptation of technologies using raw materials
that have not been explored. Mesquite flour is a product obtained from the
whole pods milled. The pods of the mesquite tree are among the oldest
foods used in human food. The fruits of mesquite trees are yellow, long, flat
pods and usually slightly curved, palatable, aromatic and sweet. These
fruits are in pods and have considerable nutritional value, being good
sources of carbohydrates, fiber, proteins, lipids and minerals, such as
calcium and iron. Depending on the conditions of storage, cookie can suffer
alteration due to water adsorption. In this state, there are changes in
product quality as the loss of the characteristic crispness, in addition to
become a more conducive way for microbial growth. Given the above this
study aimed to evaluate the quality parameters (water activity, firmness,
fracturability and color) of cookies made with different mesquite flour
concentrations (5, 15 and 25 % ), sugar (30, 40 and 50 %) and palm fat
(25, 35 and 45 %) during storage for 120 days. Figure 2 – Main Components Analysis of descriptors terms of the French bread
samples
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The experiments were performed in Food Engineering Laboratories of
Federal University of Campina Grande and in Laboratory of Bread Making –
SENAI-PB.
Sanitation(Water +
Mesquite pods Drying (60 °C)
chlorine 30ppm)

Packaging Sieving (10 mesh) Milling

Flour (7% w.b.) Production of Cookies

Figure 1 - Scheme of obtaining the mesquite flour [Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.].

• Experiment 1: 25% mesquite flour, 30% sugar and 45% palm fat
• Experiment 2: 5% mesquite flour, 50% sugar and 45% palm fat
• Experiment 3: 15% mesquite flour, 40% sugar and 35% of palm fat CONCLUSION
The cookies were packaged in primary packaging metallized bioriented
The research results showed that after the end of 120 days of storage,
polypropylene (BOPP) and polyethylene secondary packaging, kept at
cookies formulated with 25 % mesquite flour, 30 % sugar and 45 % of palm
room temperature of 25 ° C ± 3.0 ° C. The water activity was measured
fat content (experiment 1), 5 % mesquite flour, 50 % sugar and 45 % palm
using an Aqua Lab water activity meter (Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman,
fat content (experiment 2) and 15 % mesquite flour, 40 % sugar and 35 %
WA, USA), firmness and fracturability were obtained using texturometer TA-
palm fat content (experiment 3) had their water activity values, fracturability
XT2 (Stable Micro Systems, Surrey, UK) and the color of cookies was
and brightness increased and reduced firmness, and the main reason is the
measured with a Hunter Lab spectrocolorimeter (Labscan XE, Hunter
replacement of 25, 15 and 5 % wheat flour by mesquite flour due to high
Associates Laboratory Inc., Reston, VA, USA).
hygroscopicity and low brightness value of this raw material.
The monitoring of these parameters was performed during 120 days of
storage with 15 days intervals between measurements.
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