UTILIZATION OF AROMATIC JACKFRUIT SEED FLOUR FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Abstract

– Jackfruit ( Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam) is an important tropical fruit which bears profusely leading to seasonal glut and postharvest losses. The fruits remain underutilized and the jackfruit seeds, rich in nutrients and phytochemicals are often discarded. Cookies are widely consumed as a snack food and the demand for healthy bakery products is increasing. The food processing industry has recognized jackfruit seed as a novel food ingredient with desirable functional properties due to its high content of phytonutrients. Refined wheat flour which is generally used for cookie preparation can be replaced with jackfruit seed flour to make it more healthy. The present study was conducted with the objective to develop functional cookies with aromatic jackfruit seed flour, processed after pre-treatment, with good sensory acceptability. The cookies were prepared in different combinations of refined wheat flour, aromatic jackfruit seed flour, and jackfruit seed flour without any pre-treatments. Nutritional, physical and sensory qualities of the cookies were analysed. Aromatic jackfruit seed flour cookies had more carbohydrates, crude protein, crude fibre and total ash content than other cookies. Cookies with aromatic jackfruit seed flour (10%) and refined wheat flour (90%) combination had the highest carbohydrate (30.60%), crude protein (10.53%), crude fibre (2.47%) and total ash (2.00%) content. The yield of jackfruit seed flour cookies varied from 141.57% to 158.40% between the treatments combinations even though the difference was statistically non-significant. The thickness of jackfruit seed flour cookies was not influenced by the formulation and type of jackfruit seed flour. The treatment combination of refined wheat flour (100%) without cocoa powder had the highest diameter of 6.47 cm, and aromatic jackfruit seed flour (10%) and refined wheat flour combination (90%) recorded a diameter of 4.39 cm. The spread ratio of jackfruit seed flour varied from 6.76 to 4.01 and the treatment combination of aromatic jackfruit seed flour (10%) and refined wheat flour (90%) had a spread ratio of 4.17. The sensory qualities of the jackfruit cookies revealed that the treatment combination of 10% aromatic jackfruit seed flour and refined wheat flour (90%) recorded the highest mean score for appearance, crumb colour, texture, mouthfeel, flavour and overall acceptability with lower cracking. Based on the results of nutritional, physical and sensory analyses, the cookies developed by the substitution of 10% aromatic jackfruit seed flour instead of refined wheat flour yielded nutritionally rich cookies with consumer acceptability.