DEVELOPMENT, STANDARDIZATION, PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS OF BISCUITS DEVELOPED WITH DIFFERENT REPLACEMENT LEVELS OF PUMPKIN FLESH POWDER

Present study was planned and conducted at Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha and Food Technology Section, AARI Faisalabad during 2020, to develop and analyze pumpkin flesh powder (PFP) and to prepare, standardize and evaluate biscuits with 0, 5, 10 and 15% replacement levels of PFP. Full ripened pumpkins were sliced, dried and grinded to obtain PFP. Straight grade flour (SGF) and PFP were analyzed for physico-chemical properties. PFP exhibited greater (6.15 ± 0.08) a* (redness) and (36.94 ± 0.19) b* (yellowness) values, significantly higher contents of moisture (14.29 ± 0.05%), ash (1.36 ± 0.03%), fat (1.24 ± 0.03%) and fiber (1.82 ± 0.01%), as compared to SGF. Upon analysis of physical characteristics of developed biscuits, as replacement level of PFP was increased to 15%, with SGF to develop biscuits, a* and b* values of biscuits were significantly increased to 5.06 ± 0.079 and 28.01 ± 0.14 respectively, thickness was also significantly increased to 48.50 ± 0.75 mm, while width was significantly decreased. Chemical analysis of biscuits revealed a significant increase in ash, fat fiber, Na, K and Fe contents of biscuits with increasing level of replacement of PFP. Whereas, non-significant results for moisture and protein contents were found. The contents of Ca, Mg and P were significantly decreased in added PFP biscuits. Sensory evaluation of biscuits proved that 5 to 10% replacement level of PFP got good scores close to the control so up to 10% replacement level of PFP with SGF was acceptable to develop good quality, nutritional biscuits. By keeping in view, the nutritional profile of pumpkin an effort was made to highlight the nutritional significance of pumpkin, pumpkin powder and biscuits developed with addition of pumpkin powder.