Quality attributes of Cookies Fortified with Date Powder

Abstract

Date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are important traditional crop, vital component of human diet in the Arab world. It has essential nutrients i.e. (vitamins, minerals, dietary fibers and carbohydrates) and potential health benefits. Date fruit was oven dried and milled. This study aims to evaluate the effect of date powder as a natural sweetener instead of sugar on the proximate chemical composition, physical properties and sensory characterizations of cookies. However, levels of replacement of Samany date powder which used in the cookies formula were 5, 10, 20 and 40%. Proximate chemical composition of Samany date were determined .It was noticed that the moisture percentage was of 54.74%, while the protein and fat contents were found at low levels being 1.61 and 0.77%, respectively. The ash and crude fiber were constituted 2.36 and 6.51%, respectively. Total sugars were obtained at 47.27%, however, reducing and nonreducing sugar were given at 35.40 and 11.87%, respectively. The obtained results showed that increasing the date powder ratio led to increase total carbohydrates, crude fibers, ash, crude fat, moisture and protein contents. However, physical characteristics of cookies, i.e. thickness, diameter and speed factor of the prepared cookies decreased. The results of organoleptic criteria indicated that color had low score with increasing the substitution ratio. On the other hand, both crispiness and texture were affected at 20% and 40% of date powder level. Our findings ascertained that the cookies supplemental with 40% date powder had the lowest acceptability. Meanwhile, at substitution ratio of 10%, the quality of cookies was not adversely affected by the color, taste, crispiness, texture, odor and overall acceptability (p ≥0.05), so, it could be suggesting that date palm powder can be used and incorporated in bakery products up to 10% .Finally, it can be concluded that it is highly recommended to use dates powder in the manufacturing of cookies at a commercial scale where the nutritional value of the samples increased by increasing the replacement of date powder.

Date Components as Promising Plant-Based Materials to Be Incorporated into Baked Goods—A Review

“…Usually, the protein content will decrease when substituting wheat flour with fruit flours. This was observed in several studies [43,46,64]. However, legumes/pulses are a rich source of proteins [65][66][67].…”

“…Several developing countries where wheat is not grown much due to climatic reasons, such as Nigeria, have tried to replace wheat flour with unconventional or locally available flours in order to lower the cost of imported wheat [42]. For example, flour from fruits such as banana, mango and dates can be incorporated into bakery items [43][44][45][46]. When it comes to by-products, fruit peels, seeds, bagasse and sometimes over-ripe fruits can be used for fortification [47][48][49].…”

Current insights into date by-product valorization for sustainable food industries and technology

“…Another investigation by Amin et al (2019) 135 delved into cookies incorporated with date powder. The resulting cookies, except for those with 10% powdered date seeds, showed reduced diameter, thickness, and spread ratio, negatively affecting the textural properties of the cookies.…”

Approaches to Enhance Sugar Content in Foods: Is the Date Palm Fruit a Natural Alternative to Sweeteners?

“…A large number of studies focus on the addition of date and date products (syrup, extract and powder) to dairy products [ 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 ], dessert [ 107 , 148 ] and beverages [ 109 , 149 , 150 ], candy [ 151 ], biscuits [ 152 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 ], bread [ 160 , 161 , 162 ], snack bars [ 163 , 164 , 165 ] and flakes [ 166 ]. This integration represents a viable and effective strategy for the creation of novel functional foods, with an improvement in functional and nutritional properties, and good sensory attributes [ 142 ].…”

“…Other studies have focused on the incorporation of date powder and flour [ 153 , 154 , 157 , 159 ] in biscuit production, resulting in enhanced nutritional value. However, there is a limitation, with a recommended replacement threshold of 10–20% to avoid adverse effects on sensory analysis and physical characteristics.…”