Effect of the Incorporation of Virgin Coconut Oil Byproduct in the Optimization Process of a Baked Snack

Abstract

Snack consumption contributes to the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases because snacks contain high quantities of fat, sodium, and sugar. It is possible to reformulate these foods to improve their nutritional composition by incorporating coconut byproducts. This study aims to improve the nutritional profile of a snack by adding coconut flour to it. A Box–Behnken design was used to study the effects of coconut flour (40-60%), baking time (15-20 min), and temperature (140-160°C) on the physicochemical properties of the snack. There were considered response variables color aspects (L ${}^{\ast }$ , a ${}^{\ast }$ , b ${}^{\ast }$ , C ${}^{\ast }$ , and h ${}^{\ast }$ ), aw, moisture, BI, and hardness. The $R$ 2 was over 0.73 for aw, moisture, a ${}^{\ast }$ , and b ${}^{\ast }$ ; meanwhile, as for the rest of the variables, it was lower to 0.71, except for the hardness, for which the model was not significant. For that, the variables considered for the optimization were aw, moisture, a ${}^{\ast }$ , and b ${}^{\ast }$ . It was found that the moisture content and a ${}^{\ast }$ and b ${}^{\ast }$ values decreased as the amount of coconut flour increased. Time and temperature reduced the moisture content and the aw and b ${}^{\ast }$ values. The optimum conditions of coconut flour amount, time, and temperature were 55.3%, 20 min, and 159°C, respectively. The result was a snack with appropriate physicochemical properties and an increase in the content of protein, fat, and ash compared to the nixtamalized corn flour; also, the principal fatty acid of the snack was the lauric acid, characteristic of the coconut. This study validates the production of a snack made with a virgin coconut oil byproduct.