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Revealing the link between water distribution and texture properties in bran rich pasta
T. STEGLICH (1), D. Bernin (2), M. Langton (3). (1) SIK – The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Gothenburg, Sweden; (2) Swedish NMR Centre,University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; (3) Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Pasta, traditionally made solely of durum semolina, is an important staple food worldwide. Increasing its fiber content is challenging as consumers tend to prefer the texture of pasta made from refined flours. However, other studies have shown that milling wheat bran to smaller particle size improves the product quality. The aim of this study was to determine the underlying structural factors of the differently perceived texture.
We applied a novel 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method to visualize in detail the water distribution and water-macromolecule interaction in cooked samples. Spaghetti samples were produced by mixing 90% semolina with 10% wheat bran of varying mean particle size (90, 160, 370, 440 µm). MRI results were related to micrographs as well as texture properties.
Fiber-rich bran particles led to a redistribution of water as the particles did not absorb as much water as the surrounding starch-gluten-matrix during cooking. This effect was most pronounced for the largest particles, which seemed to hinder water migration locally as well. Microscopy results indicated that variations in water distribution could result in locally different degrees of starch gelatinization.
The findings of this work show that bran particle size has a strong impact on local water transport and microstructure in cooked pasta.

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