Functional properties of parsley fortified homemade Turkish noodles (Erişte)

Abstract

Turkish noodle is a staple traditional dish in the Turkish cuisine and generally made out of wheat flour, egg, salt and vegetable oil. The aims of this study were to improve the formulation of Turkish noodles by the addition of minced parsley (2, 4, 6 and 8% weight), to improve their functional properties and swelling volume, to determine the effect on the physical properties (moisture content, water activity, and colour) and chemical composition (vitamin C, total chlorophyll, total carotenoid, and protein content) of the homemade plain and fortified Turkish noddle dough (FHTD) and the fortified homemade Turkish noodles (FHTN), to determine the traditional and microwave cooking characteristics and to indicate consumer preferences of FHTN with fresh parsley. The results showed that the amount of addition of fresh parsley caused a significant increase in the moisture content values of FHTD (31.59-36.08%) (P<0.05). The vitamin C, total chlorophyll and total carotenoid contents of the FHTD and FHTN were improved with the addition of fresh parsley. The traditionally cooked FHTN have got higher water absorption (30.25-38.90g) and swelling volume values (237.50-267.50%) than microwave cooked FHTN (WA=29.03–34.77g, SV=240.00-265.00%) (p<0.05). The noodles containing 2% parsley had the highest rating compared to both plain and other samples.