Evaluation of the use of cardoon inulin to make a new type of pasta with a low glycemic index

1.INTRODUCTION This work concerns the evaluation of different types of flours obtained by Ancient Whole-grains, and different types of inulin, for the production of a new pasta, with lowering glycaemic index effect on human health. The work was carried out in three years, from November 2014 to October 2017, as PhD research in "Innovation and Management of high healthy value foods", of the university of Foggia. The work was carried out at CNR-ISAFOM in Catania. The topic, approved from the college, was related with the production of a new type of pasta with a low glycaemic index, based on the use of wholemeal durum wheat flour and the effects of the addition of inulin with different polymerization degree on the chemical and sensorial properties of spaghetti. At the beginning, inulin types were extracted, purified and characterized from different plant materials (trial 1); the following trials concerned pasta production and its quality evaluation in terms mainly of consumer's acceptability. Trial 2 regarded the production and the evaluation of spaghetti of wholemeal durum wheat flour with the addition of inulin, extracted from Cynara cardunculus, L. roots and from heads. In this way, the best part of plant to use for the extraction of the polymer was defined. Trial 3 concerned the evaluation of pasta produced using cv "Russello" flour with the addition of inulin extracted from roots of cardoon plants grown in two different Sicilian environments. The aim of trial 4 was the evaluation of the characteristics of pasta produced with the use of a type of Sicilian wholemeal flour: "Russello", added with inulin, extracted from tree different sources: Cynara cardunculus roots, Chicory intybus roots and Heliantus tuberosus tubers. Inulin was added to pasta samples at different percentage: 2, 4 and 8% (w/w). In Trial 5 the evaluation of characteristics of different types of pasta produced using four different flours, with the addition of inulin with different degree of polymerization, extracted from roots of Cynara cardunculus and from roots of Chicory intybus, at different percentage: 2, 4% (w/w), was performed. Regarding trial 6, experiments using quinoa flour was performed. In particular, different percentages of quinoa were tested to reach the threshold of acceptability of consumers. The following trials (7) aimed to evaluate the properties of dry spaghetti produced using commercial wholemeal flour with 10% of Quinoa flour and the addition of inulin from two sources (cardoon and chicory) at 8% (w/w). At the end of all trials, a short appendix explains the work carried out during the six months of abroad stage (trial 8).