EXTRUDED GLUTEN-FREE SNACKS WITH BAMBOO SHOOT FLOUR

Bamboo is largely consumed in Asian cultures but is still little explored in Brazil. Aiming to popularize the consumption of this ingredient and evaluate the effects of including Bamboo Shoot Flour from Dendrocalamus asper (BSF) in gluten-free extruded products, we prepared three formulations: 1) Standard (80% Cassava Flour - CF - and 20 % Cassava Starch - CS) 2) Asper 4% (CF 76%, CS 20%, BSF 4%); 3) Asper 8% (CF 72%, CS 20%, BSF 8%). We evaluated the Water Activity (WA), Moisture content, Instrumental Color, Specific Volume (SV), Density, Expansion Index (EI), and Firmness. Data were obtained in minimum triplicate. The analysis of variance was performed using the Sisvar software, version 5.6, using the Tukey test (p<0.05). We observe that BSF increased both WA ( 1) 0.29±0.02; 2) 0.36±0.01; 3) 0.34±0.01) as Moisture ( 1) 2.69±0.12; 2) 4.79±0.08; 3) 5.14±0.05) of extruded. Regarding color, there was a significant difference in the luminosity (L) of the extrudates (1) 80.94±0.17; 2) 82.73±0.43; 3) 80.41±0.15). The greater the addition of BSF, the higher the a* values, indicating a product with redder tones. There was no significant difference for the b* parameter Standard (22.30±0.12) and Asper 4% (23.01±0.35), but both were lower than Asper 8% (26.42±0.22). No significant difference concerning the SV ( 1) 2.92±0.36) nor the Density ( 1) 0.35±0.05). The presence of BSF resulted in a 0.48% decrease in EI, as well as enhancing Firmness (1) 34.86±6.71; 2) 43.75±5.41 to 3) 48.68±5.87). We conclude that BSF allows the obtention of extrudates with a more golden-yellowish color, with characteristics that do not differ negatively from the Standard, which can contribute to the wide use of a regional product.