Rica Julia G. Lee Seth Nathaniel P. Linga Regina Marie P. Roselo (March 2014)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Gluten-free diets are developed since gluten is the root of Celiac Disease, a digestive disorder that damages the villi. Instead of the preferred wheat flour for pastas, sweet potato flour was used in this study as it is gluten-free. Gluten is also responsible for the structure of pasta thus, different emulsifiers were needed to be tested and added to the pasta dough. The main objective of this study was to formulate sweet potato dough added with an emulsifier, namely, carrageenan, egg white, and lecithin, as an alternative to wheat dough in the production of pasta With 1 cup of sweet potato flour mixed with 1 egg and 2 tbsp. water as the control group, eight formulations of dough were conducted (formulation 1: 1 egg white, formulation 2: 2 egg whites, formulation 3: 1 egg white and 3.3g carrageenan, formulation 4: 2 egg whites and 3.3g carrageenan, formulation 5: 1 egg white and 6.6g carrageenan, formulation 6: 2 egg whites and 6.6g carrageenan, formulation 7: 1 egg white and 1 tbsp. Lecithin, formulation 8: 2 egg whites and 2 tbsp. Lecithin). Consistencies of the resulting dough were determined, and it was found that formulation 6 had the most acceptable consistency. The dough having the accepted consistency was extruded and cooked into a pasta, which was then evaluated by selected individuals in terms of appearance and odour. The sweet potato pasta was evaluated to have a weak odour, a noticeable but less significant odour of the raw material and it had a partially sticky appearance and resilience.