BAMBOO FLOUR: TECHNOLOGICAL PROPERTIES FOR FOOD APLICATIONS
Although bamboo is an important agricultural product that moves billions of dollars in international trade, little is known about their potential in food applications. This study aimed to produce and evaluate the technological characteristics of bamboo culms flour of Dendrocalamus asper species. Culms were collected, dried, ground, sieved and separated into three fractions: base (B), medium (M) and top (T) and with two different particle sizes, totaling six different types of flour: BF1, BF2, MF1, MF2, TF1 and TF2. All samples were analyzed for their proximate composition and technological characteristics, and the data were evaluated by ANOVA and Tukey (p<0.05). Flours showed pH around 5.6, 7% of moisture and 1.5% of protein, wherein TF1 and TF2 showed the highest values of protein (1.7%) while MF1 and MF2 had shown the lowest (1.3%). Composition of fat was less than 1% and did not vary between samples, except for BF1, which presented the highest content (0.83%). BF1 and BF2 showed higher content of ash (2.15 to 1.52%), while the other fractions remained around 1%. All samples showed a high fiber content (> 60%), and the insoluble fiber content was higher than the soluble. The flours also showed good technological properties of water absorption (IAA) and water solubility (ISA). The greatest variation value was between BF1 and BF2 (IAA = 4.73; 4.65 and ISA = 10.63; 8.52, respectively). Considering the color parameters, fractions 1 (BF1, MF1 and TF1) were clearer, with L* (luminosity) around 84%. TF1 and TF2 differed from the others by higher b* (yellow index) and lower a* (red index). The results of this study open new perspectives for the foodstuff use of bamboo culm flour.