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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298727
Title: Properties of extruded chia-corn meal puffs

Author
item Byars, Jeffrey
item Singh, Mukti

Submitted to: LWT - Food Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/16/2014
Publication Date: 3/6/2015
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/60609
Citation: Byars, J.A., Singh, M. 2015. Properties of extruded chia-corn meal puffs. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 62:506-510.

Interpretive Summary: This research showed that chia seeds could be easily incorporated in extruded food products. Chia contains beneficial fatty acids and is a good source of protein and dietary fiber, so it is desirable to use chia as a functional food ingredient. This work described the effects of chia content and processing conditions on extruded corn products. These results will allow for further development of healthy foods containing chia.

Technical Abstract: This study investigated the properties of extruded corn meal puffs containing chia. Mixtures of corn meal and chia seeds (0-20%) were processed in a laboratory-scale twin-screw extruder at different moisture contents (18-22%) and final heating zone temperatures (120-160 °C). Extrusion processing provides a simple method for grinding the seeds, which is necessary for making the fatty acids available. The expansion of cylindrical extrudates decreased with increasing chia content, increasing moisture and increasing final heating zone temperature. The hardness of the extrudates increased with increasing moisture content and decreased at intermediate chia levels. The specific mechanical energy of the extrusion process decreased with increasing chia content. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements showed that some of the fatty acids were incorporated into helical inclusion complexes with amylose from the starch, which has been shown to help prevent oxidation.