Physicochemical and sensory characteristics of no-bake wheat-soy snack bars.
BACKGROUND
Health and wellness is a trend observed throughout ready-to-eat cereals, cereal health bars. Therefore, the main objectives of this research were to produce a low cost, acceptable, nutritious and healthy wheat- and soy-based bar under no-bake conditions. Also, the physical, chemical, microbial, acceptability and the nutritional value of this product were studied. Six different bars were produced: a wheat bar (WB), a wheat bar with coating (WBC), a wheat and soy bar with coating (WSBC), a soy bar with coating (SBC), a wheat bar with 3% glycerin (WB3%), and a wheat bar with 6% glycerine (WB6%).


RESULTS
WB and WBC had the highest water activities while WSBC had the lowest. The three bars with coating had higher L and lower b values, which indicates that they were lighter and not as highly yellow coloured as the wheat samples. WSBC had the lowest value for hardness while the SBC and WBC had the highest. SBC received the highest scores for overall acceptability, appearance, sweetness, flavour and texture while WSBC received the second highest score in all categories.


CONCLUSIONS
It appears that consumers prefer the soy varieties to the wheat bars. These types of bars can aid in feeding the general population, which is becoming increasingly concerned with nutrition and convenience.
Aramouni
Fadi M
FM
Food Science Institute, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
Abu-Ghoush
Mahmoud H
MH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D002523:Edible Grain; D005260:Female; D005524:Food Technology; D005990:Glycerol; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D030262:Soybean Proteins; D013025:Glycine max; D013649:Taste; D014908:Triticum; D014867:Water; D055815:Young Adult
D030262:Soybean Proteins; D014867:Water; D005990:Glycerol