Ombretta Marconi

The incidence of celiac disease and gluten intolerance has been significantly rising globally. Gluten-free product consumption registered a sudden rise also among tolerant people, due to psychosocial factors. Biscuits are popular, low-cost bakery foods, consumed by nearly everyone worldwide. The removal of gluten from the baked product causes some undesirable traits and different textures and tastes. The main goal consists in creating a food product with the same taste and texture as a product with gluten. Moreover, gluten-free bakery products are usually low-grade sources of protein and poor in dietary fiber. Quinoa is a source of total dietary fiber and valuable protein. In this study, quinoa flour was used as the main constituent in the formulation of gluten-free shortbreads to improve their nutritional properties. Six different recipes with different percentages of quinoa flour have been realized. The formulations were compared with each other and with a wheat flour control shortbread, using textural analysis. The experimental biscuits with textural features more similar to control shortbread were subjected to a triangle-discriminating and preference test and those selected by panelists was characterized from a chemical-physical and sensorial point of view. The experimental shortbreads constituted a good compromise to exploit the good nutritional composition of quinoa while maintaining an acceptable sensory profile.

Sprouts are increasingly present in the human diet, being tasty and healthy foods high in antioxidant compounds. Although there is a body of literature on the sprouting of many plant species, Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz has not yet been studied for this purpose. This study aimed to characterize the main bioactive compounds and antioxidant potential of seeds and sprouts of five different Camelina cultivars (ALBA, CO46, CCE43, JOELLE, and VERA). In particular, the contents of phenolic compounds (PCs), phenolic acids (PAs), and glucosinolates (GLSs) were investigated. PCs, PAs, GLSs, and the antioxidant activity of seeds differed among cultivars and were greatly increased by sprouting. A PCA analysis underlined both the effect of the cultivar (PC2) and the germination (PC1) on the nutritional properties of Camelina. The best nutritional properties of seeds were observed for ALBA and CCE43, while the best nutritional properties of sprouts were recorded for CCE43 and JOELLE, since the latter cultivar showed a greater enhancement in phytochemical content and antioxidant activity with sprouting. Finally, a UHPLC-UV procedure for the analysis of GLSs in Camelina was developed and validated. The performance criteria of the proposed method demonstrated that it is useful for the analysis of GLSs in Camelina.