Executive Summary: Pseudocereals (seeds that do not belong to the cereal family, but their composition is similar, which is why they are considered pseudocereals), among which quinoa, chia, amaranth or linseed stand out, are basic foods that have They have been consumed in the diet of many South American countries for centuries, but they were displaced by the introduction of wheat and rice, passing into the background (FAO 1992).
The main producers of these cereals are South American countries that maintain it as the staple food of their diet, but nevertheless cannot use it entirely in processes such as baking due to its physical-chemical and rheological behavior in certain culinary techniques. This forces these countries, mostly developing countries, to have to import cereals and allocate part of their pseudocereal production to animal feed. Among the pseudocereals, quinoa stands out especially as a source of high-quality protein, since it is one of the few foods of vegetable origin that has in its composition all the essential amino acids, which is why it is considered a source of high-quality protein. biological value (Aluko and Monu, 2003).
Today, it is known that many of the nutritionally important molecules in food are large polymers, such as proteins. Their presence is detected in food mainly through the different textures that they are capable of forming, and not by any specific flavor thereof (Garcés-Rimón et al., 2015a). However, when these macronutrients are degraded through different technological and/or culinary processes, a wide variety of aromas and flavors are generated that can be appreciated in food. One of the most important processes for this degradation to take place is, without a doubt, enzymatic hydrolysis. Specifically, the hydrolysis of these pseudocereals could produce new foods and/or ingredients with beneficial properties for health and could also produce important changes in the physicochemical properties, as well as in the texture, taste and smell of the products obtained (Aluko and Monu, 2003).
Main objectives:
- Develop enzymatic hydrolysates from pseudocereals and/or seeds of Andean origin with optimal nutritional, biological, physical-chemical, sensory and rheological properties for the development of new foods.
- Obtain antimicrobial by-products from pseudocereals and/or seeds of Andean origin.
- Design and implement in a digital platform the necessary structure to be able to gather all the results obtained in the study of hydrolyzed products, antimicrobial by-products and socio-economic studies, so that they can be used through the CEDIA Network in particular, and for the scientific community in general. To avoid possible duplication with previous work at the national and international level, the existence of platforms that could complement our work will be reviewed. In the event that they exist, an attempt will be made to reference them on our platform to complete the results obtained (as long as national and international legality is not violated).
Specific objectives:
- Obtaining hydrolyzates from pseudocereals and Andean seeds.
- Selection of hydrolyzates obtained from pseudocereals and seeds of Andean origin based on their functional (rheological) and organoleptic properties.
- Characterization and evaluation of in vitro biological activities of the hydrolysates selected for their organoleptic properties.
- antioxidant activity.
- antimicrobial activity.
- Sensory analysis of the different products made with the hydrolysates selected for their organoleptic and biological properties from pseudocereals or seeds.
Participating Institutions:
EPN, UTA, UTE.
Participants:
Project manager Xavier Calderón.
- Xavier Calderon
- Jeny Cumanda Ruales Nájera
- Edison Homero Alvarez Mayorga
- john bravo
- Carlota Martina Moreno Guerrero
Awarded budget: $60000
Project status: In progress.
