Gluten‐free spaghetti made with chickpea, unripe plantain and maize flours: functional and chemical properties and starch digestibility

The development of gluten‐free spaghetti with a low amount of glycaemic carbohydrate was investigated. The goal of this study was to determine the chemical composition, cooking quality and starch digestibility of gluten‐free spaghetti elaborated with mixtures of chickpea, unripe plantain and maize flours. The gluten‐free spaghetti presented a higher protein, fat and ash content than the control semolina spaghetti. The solid loss among all the gluten‐free spaghetti was in the range of 10.04–10.91% and not significantly different from each other. These values were almost at the limit of acceptability to be considered as good cooking quality. Total starch in the gluten‐free spaghetti was lower than the control spaghetti. The lower available starch (AS) and higher resistant starch contents in the gluten‐free spaghetti were associated with their lower rate of hydrolysis and predicted glycaemic index. There is a potential for developing gluten‐free spaghetti with reduced amount of glycaemic carbohydrates from unconventional food ingredients such as chickpea, unripe plantain and maize flours.