Quality of spaghetti containing buckwheat, amaranth, and lupin flours

Light and dark buckwheat, amaranth, and lupin flours were substituted for extra fancy and fancy durum wheat flours at 5, 15, 25, and 30% to produce multigrain pastas. The samples were analyzed for color, cooked weight, firmness, cooking loss (total solids) and total carbohydrate loss in the cooking water, in vitro protein digestibility, lysine content, and sensory attributes. Color scores of spaghetti containing light buckwheat and amaranth decreased as the substitution level increased. Color scores of dry spaghetti containing lupin remained constant at all substitution levels (10.3 average). The optimum cooking time of spaghetti was similar in all samples, about 11.3 min. The majority of the samples exhibited acceptable cooked weights of about three times the dry weight. The cooking loss ranged from 7.2 to 8.0%, significantly higher than that of the controls but still at acceptable levels. Samples containing dark buckwheat and amaranth showed significantly lower firmness values than the control durum-flour spaghettis. Total carbohydrate in the cooking water was independent of substitution level within a flour. Samples in which amaranth was substituted for durum showed the highest total carbohydrate in the water (2.7%), and those with lupin showed the lowest (1.2%). Lupin-containing spaghetti showed higher in vitro protein digestibility content (86.4%) than did the controls and the other composite samples (averages 85.5 and 84.3%, respectively). The lysine content increased as the substitution level increased, and lupin- containing spaghetti showed the highest lysine values (average 3.2 g/100 g of protein). Sensory evaluation showed that changes in texture and flavor were detected at 30% light buckwheat. 15% dark buckwheat, 25% amaranth. and 15% lupin. The results showed that multigrain pasta can be produced with higher levels of lysine than commercial pasta made of 100% durum wheat flour and also with acceptable cooking quality and sensory attributes.