ACCEPTANCE AND PURCHASE INTENTION OF BREAD FORMULATIONS ENRICHED WITH CASTANHOLA ALMOND FLOUR

Castanhola almond flour (CAF) stands out for its pleasant flavor, nutritional value, and bioactive compounds. However, there is a lack of its application in food. Thus, its introduction in bakery products, especially bread, proves to be an efficient alternative for nutritional enrichment and sensorial improvement of bread based on refined wheat flour. The study aimed to analyze the sensory characteristics of bread produced with CAF at different proportions (BCAF 0: 0% CAF; BCAF 5: 5% CAF; BCAF 10: 10% CAF; BCAF 15: 15% CAF). The tests were applied to 96 untrained panelists of both genders, over 18 years old, randomly recruited. For the acceptance test, a hedonic scale with nine categories was used (1 = “I Extremely Disliked” and 9 = “I Extremely Liked”) about aroma, appearance, flavor, texture, and overall impression. As for the purchase intention test, it applied the scale structured in five points (1 = “I would certainly not buy” and 5= “I would certainly buy”). The study was approved by the Ethics Research Committee of the Federal University of Pernambuco (Protocol No. 5.687.030). The results of the bread acceptance test were in the following range: appearance (7.07 – 8.11), aroma (7.13 – 7.38), texture (6.91 - 7.19), flavor (6.90 - 7.40), an overall impression (7.03 - 7.34). Additionally, the formulation BCAF 15 was the most appreciated by the panelists compared to the control sample for flavor and overall impression attributes. Regarding the purchase intent test, the results confirm the purchase intention for the formulations, where the values ranged from 3.82 to 3.98, corresponding to a score close to "Would probably buy" (4). Thus, the sensorial profile of bread enriched with different proportions of CAF reinforces the potential for the insertion of products based on castanholeira almonds into the market, especially in the bakery foods sector.