Desenvolvimento e caracterização de barras de cereais e biscoitos tipo cookie elaborados a partir da farinha da entrecasca de melancia.

Abstract

With the many changes occurring in the population's lifestyle and eating habits reflecting mainly the same, has seen the creation of new products to meet consumer needs, and in this context there is increasing full use of food, including its inedible parts such as leaves, stems, bark, inner bark and seeds. Considering the importance of developing new products and the search for alternative nutrient sources for application in foods more accessible to the general public, the use of fresh watermelon bark in the preparation of flour that can be employed in the processing of different types of food products it becomes a viable option for this audience. It should be noted also the importance of the known physiological effects and the impact on consumer health, exercised by the insoluble dietary fiber present in these parts and the increasing need to develop technologies for the use of industrial by-products, what drives this research. Thus, this study was developed with the objective to develop and characterize the physical and chemical aspects, microbiological and sensory food products obtained from the watermelon bark flour. Therefore, after obtaining the watermelon in the open market of Cuité/PB, the bark was removed and used in the manufacture of flour (FEM), which was used in the processing of two food products: cereal bar and biscuits type "cookie" from standard techniques in the laboratory. The inner bark of watermelon fresh, flour obtained from this and the products were subjected to physical-chemical, sensory and microbiological analysis, evaluating thus the processing viability of these products as nutritional source. The formulations cereal bars and cookies type "cookie" developed in this study were in good nutritional characteristics with respect to the macro and micronutrients. With respect to sensory analysis of the cereal bars, all samples were well accepted. In relation to the biscuits, formulation with 10% PEF was more acceptable. Thus, it is concluded that the use of the FEM in the preparation of products is feasible, and that the finished products have processing was applied to the general population and contribute positively to the technological adjustments generated for the development of products derived from the bark of watermelon, aggregates of nutritional value, and as an option for the marketing segment and potential consumer.