Development and characterization of a dehydrated mixture based on pumpkin flour (Cucurbita maxima) incorporating modified starch of yam (D. alata cv. Diamante 22) with potential application for instantaneous soups

In Colombia, food industry seeks the use of raw materials of high nutritional value such as pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) and yam (Dioscorea alata cv. Diamante 22) for the development of processed foods and diversification of agricultural production. The purpose of this work was to develop a dehydrated mixture using pumpkin flour and modified yam starch. The study included the formulation of dehydrated mixture based on the starch/flour ratio and the type of starch modification. With analysis by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) peaks were identified in 1366 – 1367 cm^-1 corresponding to beta-carotene in the flour. With starch modifications gelatinization temperature increased reaching values of 83.6 and 86.3°C. All the rehydrated formulations showed pseudoplastic rheological behavior where the viscosity decreased with the shear rate. The mixture most preferred by consumers and that showed the highest overall desirability (0.47) was the formulation with 60% flour and 10% enzymatically modified starch. Finally, the pumpkin flour conferred favorable sensory characteristics and the starch improved the stability and consistency properties in the prepared product.

Keywords: instant soup, acetylated starch, enzymatically modified starch, rheological behavior, sensory evaluation.