Development of corn-based sweet snacks with banana peel flour

Abstract

Thermoplastic extrusion is a thermomechanical process used in the food industry in which products are submitted to high pressure and temperatures, resulting in chemical and physical modifications. Snacks are one of the possible products that can be obtained through this process. These products are usually highly criticized due to their high amount of lipid, sodium and calories, and by its high glycemic response. Despite that, snacks are a part of a growing market due to consumer's high demand. One alternative to improve the nutritional quality of these products is adding flour from vegetable coproducts, such as banana peel, which has a high nutritional value and is rarely used. Thus, the present project aims to develop sweet extruded snacks made with banana peel and corn grits, with and without added banana natural aroma, powdered cacao and a sucrose solution. For this, the raw materials will be analyzed for moisture content, granulometry and instrumental color. Then, the sweet snacks will be analyzed for their physical properties (expansion ratio, density, instrumental analysis of texture and color) and sensory characteristics (acceptance by hedonic scale and ideal for sweetness and banana flavor, and also the sensory profile by the technique Temporal Dominance of Sensations). The best formulation will then be submitted to the analysis of proximate composition (moisture, ash, protein, lipids, dietary fiber and available carbohydrates by difference).