“Económicos” cakes strengthened with chestnut: effects on texture and color

Cereals grains are one of the main sources of nutrients and energy contributors to the human diet. The “económicos” are traditional cakes from Portugal, made with wheat flour and quite appreciated by consumers, because of the good taste. Different sources of flour can be used in pastry products, however, the gluten present in wheat flour, along with starch maintain the union between the ingredients and provide the structure of the baked product. Therefore, with the use of other sources of flour, the presence of gluten becomes minimal and the cake tends to be of inferior quality compared to foods which contain it, namely at the level of low nutritional value, weak coloration, higher tendency to crumble and, mainly, low volume. Thus, the main objectives of this work were to analyse the texture and color of “económicos” incorporated with chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) flour, thus strengthening the económicos nutritional value and not fully reducing gluten. The analysis were carried out over the course of 25 days. Overall, significant interaction was sought for all analysis of color and storage time showed, as expected, a higher influence on the texture profile.