Effect of Partial Replacement of Wheat Flour with Whole Leaf and Chloroplast-Rich Fraction from Thai Jasmine Rice Grass on Nutritional and Physicochemical Properties of Cookies

Abstract

Nowadays, the nutritional value of cookies is relatively low. To reduce wheat flour usage in the cookies, the freeze-dried whole leaf (WL) and chloroplast-rich fraction (CRF) derived from Thai jasmine rice grass were used as a food ingredient to increase the nutrients of cookies. Chloroplast is a rich source of macro and micronutrients. Thus, the use of chloroplast might improve the nutrients in food products. This research aimed to study the physical and chemical characteristics of freeze-dried WL and CRF from Thai jasmine rice grass. The nutritional and physical properties of the butter cookies substituted wheat flour with WL or CRF (0%, 2%, and 4% (w/w)) were also investigated. The result showed that CRF derived from Thai jasmine rice grass contained a significantly larger amount of macro and micronutrients (protein, lipid, ash, -carotene, and total carotenoids) compared with WL (P≤0.05), except for carbohydrate, fiber, total chlorophyll, and total phenolic compound. Furthermore, the cookies replaced wheat flour with 4% WL from Thai jasmine rice grass, containing the highest fiber led to a decreased spread ratio and increased the hardness of cookies. Whilst the cookies substituted with 4% CRF (w/w) were similar in texture to the cookies containing only wheat flour (P>0.05). Moreover, the replacement of wheat flour with freeze-dried WL and CRF derived from Thai jasmine rice grass enhanced nutrients and antioxidant activity compared with cookies in the absence of WL and CRF. The butter cookies with 4% replacement of WL showed the highest level of chlorophyll and total phenolic; the cookies with 4% replacement of CRF contained the largest amount of -carotene (provitamin A) and total carotenoids. However, both cookies containing either WL or CRF were not significantly different in antioxidant activity (P>0.05).