Topinambur in food industry

20140809

What is unique about topinambur?! In the developed countries of Western Europe (Germany, France, Belgium), in Japan, the USA and Canada foods are supplemented with an invaluable fiber: INULIN. It has been proven to regulate the blood sugar, prevent a number of diseases, and cure gastrointestinal disorders by creating a natural environment for the bifidobacteria that are of vital importance for the human body. Inulin is used around the world to manufacture medicines for osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. Topinambur is a natural source of pure inulin. The inulin content of the variety cultivated since 2003 by us is about 70 % of the total dry matter. What is more, topinambur is rich in potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, vitamins, amino acids, including essential amino acids. We have researches, analyses and recipes, which we could provide to interested individuals or companies at mutually beneficial conditions.

Use of topinambur in bread and dough products

According to recent developments in dietology, there is an ongoing tendency to expand the assortment of bread and dough products not only in terms of quality and nutritional value, but also in terms of prophylactic and curative effect on the body. New products with effective functional properties are manufactured with from topinambur (earth apple) flour.

The inclusion of topinambur flour in recipes is an easy way to give a new aspect to your products:

Expansion of your product range

Development of new health products with distinctive functional properties: supplemented with inulin, pectin, mineral substances, vitamins, organic polyacids, and proteins.

You gain technological advantages: increase of the starting product (topinambur flour has a swelling coefficient of 5); extension of the shelf life of your products (the inulin contained in the flour is a natural preservative); economy of sweeteners (under acidic-thermal conditions inulin is transformed into fructose that sweetens the product – the energy content of the product thus becomes lower. In bread baking, the process of bread making is intensified. The level of the most tightly bound moisture increases. The process of staling becomes slower, therefore the shelf live of the product becomes longer.

-Bread-

Three recipes for bread with functional properties have been developed, which have been successfully marketed in Germany, Austria, and France, where the earth apple is much appreciated in the bread making industry.

1. Dietary Bread with beneficial properties made from:

Wheat flour (prime quality);

2.5 % topinambur powder

10 % wheat bran

2. Dietary bread from:

Rye flour husked grain

3 % topinambur powder

10 % wheat bran

3. Dietary bread from:

Rye flour from husked grain and prime quality wheat flour (in equal proportions)

3% topinambur powder

10% wheat bran

Topinambur powder is included in dry bread kneading.

Successful attempts were made at Bread 2 and Bread 3 (dietary, diabetic), where the dough is kneaded in two ways: traditional – with thick leaven, and quick – with special additives selected by the technologist.

The recommended maximum dose of topinambur flour is 6 % of the total flour mass.

– Biscuits-

There have been attempts to use topinambur powder in biscuit recipes made from oatmeal and prime quality wheat flour in two varieties: with sugar, and with sorbitol or fructose. The maximum doses of topinambur flour included in the flour mass depend on the type of sweetener: for sugar – 7%, for sorbitol or fructose – 5%.

Use of topinambur flour in pasta manufacturing

It has been established that included in pasta recipes, dry topinambur supplements the product with 5.3 g/ 100 g of inulin with an eightfold increase in the fructose content.

Dry topinambur powder supplements pasta products with potassium – 100 %, calcium – 70 %, magnesium – 38 %, and causes a fivefold increase in the iron content and a twofold increase in the phosphorus content as compared to samples made from extra quality wheat flour.

Vitamin В1, РР and B2 contents increase by 30 %, 40 % and 4 times, respectively. Therefore, topinambur flour adds a whole complex of nutrients, including vitamins, macro- and microelements, cellulose and inulin to pasta products. Based on studies of gluten quality, the properties of dough and the consumer value of pasta, optimal doses of topinambur powder were determined. Technological effectiveness is achieved when the powder content is 10 % of the flour mass. For optimal preservation of the properties of inulin, it is recommended that pasta products are dried at a lower temperature – at about 70 – 75 ºC

Further study and detailed description of the potentialities of using topinambur in all sectors of the food manufacturing industry are forthcoming.