International Journal of Agricultural Research ISSN 1816-4897 Journals Ine. www.academicjournals.comInternational Journal of Agricultural Research 2 (11): 959-964, 2007 ISSN 1816-4897 © 2007 Academic Journals Ine Sensory Attributes of Freshly Roasted and Roasted Freeze Dried Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) Coated with Whey Protein Isolate-Pullulan Edible Coating Mahamadou Elhadji Gounga, Shi-Ying Xu and Zhang Wang Department of Food Science and Engineering, School of Food Science and Technology. Tiangnang University, Wuxi, 214122, People Republic's of China Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of Whey Protein Isolate-Pullulan edible coatings on the sensory chatactersties of ehestnat fruit (Castanea molissima). Freshly toasted and roasted fieeze dried chestnuts were dipped into 4 WPI-PUL coating solution for 30 min then drained, dried and stored for 24 h. Samples ‘were evaluated by'a 60 member sensory panel for sweetness, appearance and color, texture and crunchiness, favor and acceptance using a structural 10 point intensity scale. WPL-PUL coated chestnut had no distinetive milk odor. However the coated chestnuts were perceived tobe slightly sweet and adhesive by the sensory pana. The results suggested that WPL-PUL coatings greatly improved the sensory attributes of fresh and dried chestnuts as compared to the uncoated cried sample Key words: Chestnut, freeze crying, WPI, edible coatings, sensory evaltation INTRODUCTION ‘The chestiut (Castanea Millet) belongs to the beech family (Fagaceae) including the beech (Fagus), the oak (Qereus) and Castanopsis. The 13 Castanea species are mative to the temperate zone of the northem hemisphere, five in East Asia, seven in North America and one in Eutope (Bumham ef al, 1986) with four species of economic importance being distinguished as: C. dentata (North American), C. molfissima (Chinese), C: sativa (European) and C. erenara (Japanese). Chestnuts are important plants whose muts ean be used for different purposes, The nuts are 0.05) were identified in sweetness ‘when coated and uncoated samples were compared. Color is one of the most important attributes of foods, being pereeived as a quality and acceptanee indicator, It plays a major role in the assessment of external quality in food industries and in food engineering research, The coated RFDC had the highest score for appearance and color of 7.1, followed by coated FRC. More $0, the ANOVA showed a significance difference in color and appearance (p<0 05) between the controls and coated samples, These results confirmed that the coated chestnuts maintained a fresh like appearance whereas an obvious whiteness developed inthe uncoated dried chestnuts as found in @ previous study Canpublished results) ‘The coating improved the texture and mouth feel of both fresh and dried chestnuts, The texture of uncoated RFDC was rather flowry and coarse, as indicated by a lower score of 3.2. The “unsatisfactory texture could bea consequence of the drying process, ftom which foods undergo volume changes, either by shrinkage due to moisture loss, or by expansion due to gas generation or pore formation. The open pore volume fraction plays an important role in determining the structural properties of a product (Attanasio et al., 2004). The crunchiness of dried chestnuts was improved by the coating as showed by a score of 4.4. Thisis a consequence of fruit rehydration during dipping into the film solution, thus restoring the raw material's properties when it comes into contact with water. “ble 1: Treatment means and DMT for al atrbutes* ‘Sampler “Appearance Tere! code Sweetness and cole auth fel Flavor Acceptance RCC 670% 695068 770.38 7320.58 70a FRUC 6240.6ab 48:06 910.46 ono.la 6.54056 RFDCC S420;800 me02a 44605e $320.25 sisole EDUC 5.050 9 4303) 3250.34 420.46 3.80040 5: Each vale represents the mean value and (Standard deviation) af sixty determinations (a = 60), Sweeties: 1 = Fiat 10 = Sweet Appearance and color: 1 = Bad: 10 = Excell. TestureMouth fee: 1= Flow, coarse, 10 Fine, melts wemuth, Flavor: 1=Non typical; 10 typical Acceptance: 1 = Bad; 10= Excellent. : FROC: Freshly Roasted Coated Chestmt; FRUC: Feshly Roasted Uncoated Chest; RFDCC: Roasted Freeze Dried Coated Chestnut; RFDUC: Roasted Freeze Dried Uncosted Chest, Any two means in the same column flowed by the same letters) arenot significantly different (p>005)Int. J. Agrt, Res., 2 (11): 989-964, 2007 ‘The flavor of a food proxiuct consists of the volatile compounds that are perceived by the olfactory system. Panelists liked the flavor of fresh chestuts (mean, 6.98) significantly more than ied chestnut mean, 4.75), Also the flavor score of coated chests (ean, 6.30) was higher than that of the uncoated ones (5.44), The result indicated that coating affected the flavor of both fiesh and freeze dried chestnuts. However, the coating did not have the specific milk odor, butt was perceived to be slightly sweet by the panelists (Table 1). This isin agreement with the findings of Kim and ‘Ustunol (2001) who reported that WPI-based edible films had no distinetive mil: odor. All samples received diferent hedonic ratings in acceptanes. Coated FRC were highly appreciated 7.9) followed by the uncoated ones whereas the uncoated RFDC were considered unacceptable (rating <5.0. All in all, the sensory characteristics improved by the use of WPI edible coatings are appearance and color, plus overall acceptance of the dried sample (Table 1), which, in the case of texture and ‘mouth feel, showed the lowest values, This isin disagreement with the general comment from the panelists who appreciated its crunchiness that occurred from the dipping (results not shown). The dried uncoated chestnuts were below the limit of acceptability in all attributes except for sweetness Asof yet, no consumer acceptance tests or other sensory studies have been published on foods ‘with WPL-PUL coatings. However, sensory studies have been conducted on related food products such 4s fieshidried fit, nuts of lightly processed fhuits coated with WPI-based edible films, For instance, Pérez-Gago et al. (2003) evaluated the sensory properties of WPI-Beeswax-coated fresh-cut apples containing different concentrations of Beeswax (BW). They reported that WPI-BW coating hud a pleasant visual appearance with an appropriate concentration of BNW, wile maintaining the actual color ‘of the fruit and this was in agreement with present results, Table 2 presents a combined ANOVA of all sensory attributes in all treatments, Treatment 1 (@rying) was significant forall attributes except for appearance and color and treatment 2 (coating) was significant for all attributes except for sweetness. This indicates that all attributes were dependent separately on drying factor and coating factor except appearance and color for the former and sweetness forthe later. The interaction T,»T, showed no significance difference in sensory attributes (p°005). ‘When the panelists were asked to provide any general comments on the samples, more attention ‘was given the dried coated chestnut, The panelists mostly appreciated the general appearance of coated RFDC with a suggestion of improving their sweetness and enunchiness Coating showed an additional benefit on sensory quality in terms of crunchiness as indicated by panelists’ general comments. In response to whether the panalists would prefer ready to eat to non peeled fruits, 72.88% of panelists responded favorably (Table 3). More than 93% of the participants would prefer fresh chestnut as compared to the dried state, Henee, there isa significant market demand for fiesh processed cchestmats with longer shelf-life and enhanced health benefits, ‘Table 2: Analy ss of variance of WPIPUL-couted fresh and died chests ‘Mean squares Seance of Appearance Testre! variation at Svwemess and cole uth Fel Flavor Acceptance Treatment 1 "4.9800" 0.1200" 15.024 22.8506 Treatment? 1 osti2 1g0075* Diss a.ss19" TT 1 0.0383" o3s7se* osm 0.0062 Ears 236 0.6836 91279 0.133 ons Resquare : sono 0.9870 0.9830 0.9580 1, fled; T, contrllcoated, df Destee of feeden, Signficanee: *: p=0.08, *¥: p>0.0S 963Int. J. Agrt, Res., 2 (11): 989-964, 2007 Table 3: D ec questions and diseibuion percentage ofthe answers Demographic questions ____nswer and distribution percentage (Ql: Would you prefer areaiy to eat Gut toa non peeled uit? Yes No ‘Not aire 7388 22 ° (Q2¢ In general, which fut would you prefer? Fresh fit Drie suit, 9322 78 ° (3: Would you prefer a fit with amik taste? Yee No m9 Desi ° CONCLUSION ‘The present study showed that WPI-PUL coating had positive effect on the sensory attributes ‘of both roasted fresh and freeze dried chestnuts, The coated chestnuts had no distinctive mill odor; but, they were perceived to be slightly sweet and more adhesive by the sensory panel, The results also showed that the coated dried chestnuts were more attractive as compared to the uncoated samples which were below the limit of acceptability in most attributes. This was a result worth noting, considering the application of WPI-PUL edible films to dried chestnut for commercial uses, henoe providing an alternative strategy to minimize the significant losses in harvested chestmut. Further investigation in dried chestnut coatings to improve crunchiness and sweetness as recommended by the panelists is worth doing, REFERENCES Attanasio, G., L. Cinquanta, D. Albanese and M.D. Matteo, 2004. 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