Physicochemical, sensory properties and in-vitro bioaccessibility of phenolics and antioxidant capacity of traditional noodles enriched with carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) flour

In this study, the use of carob flour (CF) was investigated to improve the nutritional, antioxidative, and sensory properties of the noodles produced by the traditional method. In traditional noodle production, carob flour was used as a substitute to wheat flour at six different ratios (0%-control: Cmilk, Cwater, 10-40%, CF; w/w). In the noodle samples, L* and b* decreased whereas a* value increased as the CF substitution ratio increased. Regarding the CF substitution, which was found to be a natural antioxidant source rich in phenolic compounds added to the noodle formulation, the antioxidant capacity, total phenol content, and their bioaccessibility values increased. Bioaccessibility of total phenolic content (%) values (22.43-30.07%) of CF-added noodle samples were significantly higher than those of the control samples (p < 0.05). According to the bioaccessibility results of antioxidant capacities, FRAP (50.17%) showed the highest value in the 40% CF noodle sample. As a result, the use of 10% and 20% carob flour in the noodle formulation were determined as the optimum values in terms of sensory properties. In developing new food formulations with high functional properties, it has been recommended to use carob flour as a functional food ingredient.