ELABORAÇÃO E AVALIAÇÃO SENSORIAL DE UMA BARRA DE CEREAIS A BASE DE PIPOCA DE SORGO (Sorghum bicolor L.)

Cereal bars are practical, easy to consume foods that require little preparation and have shown a rapid growth in the market. Sorghum, in Brazil, is basically used for animal feed with great potential for use also in human food. Thus, this work aimed to develop a cereal bar based on sorghum popcorn. The formulations were made in the UNI-BH pilot plant, using the following ingredients: invert sugar, brown sugar, soy lecithin, hydrogenated vegetable fat, flaked oats, dehydrated banana, cinnamon powder, rice flakes and sorghum popcorn (BRS 309). The acceptance of the product was evaluated by 54 consumers, in terms of flavor, color and texture, using a nine point hedonic scale ranging from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely). Averages of 7.92; 7.75 and 7.38 for flavor, texture and color attributes, respectively. It was verified that the Sorghum Base Cereal Bar analyzed was accepted in 100% of the cases regarding the flavor attribute and in 92.5 and 96.3%, regarding the color and texture attributes, respectively. It is concluded that there is a great possibility of insertion in the market of the product of cereal bar made with sorghum popcorn, stimulating the increase of the consumption of this cereal in human food.