Hydration Kinetics of Direct Expanded Tef Flour Breakfast Cereals in Water and Milk
Hydration Kinetics of Direct Expanded Tef Flour Breakfast Cereals in Water and Milk
Hydration Kinetics of Direct Expanded Tef Flour Breakfast Cereals in Water and Milk
P
N
i1
M
exp;i
M
est;i
2
N
v
u
u
u
t
(2)
where M
exp
and M
est
are experimental and estimated
moisture content, respectively, and N is the number of
data points.
Results and Discussion
Hydration phenomena
The rehydration data of extrudates processed using different
barrel temperatures and hydrated in water and whole milk
are presented in Figure 1. Water absorption occurred at a
higher rate in the early stages (6090 min) of the rehydra-
tion process followed by decreasing rate and nally tending
to cease at prolonged soaking time indicating the rehydra-
tion approached equilibrium condition. This trend was sim-
ilar for samples extruded using 130 and 150C barrel
temperatures. For samples extruded using barrel tempera-
ture of 110C water absorption continued steadily till the
end of the hydration time and approaching equilibrium
required more time. Water absorption rate depends on the
difference between the water content at a given time and at
saturation, which is the driving force. As hydration pro-
ceeds, the water content of the extrudates increased, thereby
decreasing the driving force and consequently the water
absorption rate. The process ceases when the extrudates
attain the equilibrium moisture content. Similar characteris-
tic water absorption trends have been reported for ready-
to-eat and puffed breakfast cereals immersed in water or
milk (Machado et al. 1997, 1998, 1999; Sacchetti et al.
2003, 2005; Lucas et al. 2007; Solomon 2008).
Samples extruded using barrel temperature of 150C
exhibited higher water absorption rate followed by those
extruded at 130 and 110C, which is apparent from the
slope of the tted lines particularly in the early stages
(about the rst 6090 min) of the rehydration process
(Fig. 1). This trend was similar while hydrating samples
both in milk and in water. The trend observed in this
study is in agreement with Solomon (2008) where tef ex-
trudates processed at 150C exhibited higher hydration
rate than those extruded at 130 and 110C. Sacchetti et al.
(2005) also reported that extrudates processed at 110C
extrusion temperature exhibited higher hydration rate
Temperature (C)
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
0 100 200 300 400
Time (min)
M
o
i
s
t
u
r
e
c
o
n
t
e
n
t
(
g
/
g
150 w 150 m 130 w 130 m
110 w 110 m est
i
n
t
w
t
)
Figure 1. Experimental and estimated rehydration curves in water
and whole milk at different barrel temperatures (m, milk; w, water).
2013 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 41
W. K. Solomon Tef Extrudate Hydration
than those extruded at 100C. Gelatinization, which is the
conversion of starch to a cooked and digestible material
by the application of heat and water, is one of the impor-
tant effects extrusion has on the starch component of
foods (Ilo et al. 1996; Cheyne et al. 2005; Ding et al. 2005,
2006). Water is absorbed and bound to the starch mole-
cules inducing change in the starch molecule structure.
The fact is that high extrusion temperature increases the
degree of starch gelatinization (Ilo et al. 1996; Bhattach-
arya 1997; Ding et al. 2005; Singh et al. 2007), and water
absorption rate and water absorption capacity by gelati-
nized starch are higher than those for raw starch (Gambus
et al. 1999; Cheyne et al. 2005), explaining the high water
absorption rate exhibited by extrudates processed at barrel
temperature of 150C followed by those extruded at 130
and 110C, respectively. Earlier studies also revealed that
high extrusion temperature reduces melt viscosity
(Fletcher et al. 1985; Ilo et al. 1996; Lo et al. 1998; Ding
et al. 2006), resulting in more expanded, less compact,
and more porous breakfast cereals and snacks having air
cells due to release of superheated steam (Fletcher et al.
1985; Anderson and Hedlund 1990; Ilo et al. 1996, 1999;
Bhattacharya 1997; Guha et al. 1997; Ding et al. 2005; De
Pilli et al. 2005), leading to less resistance to mass transfer
and hence increased rate of water absorption.
It is also worth noting that water absorption rate in
water is signicantly higher than that in milk. This is evi-
dent from the trends and slopes of the tted lines (Fig. 1),
which were found to be signicantly higher in water than
those in milk. The lower water absorption rate of extru-
dates hydrated in milk could be attributed to the solids in
milk, which block the pores of the extrudates, thereby
reducing water absorption rate. Moreover, the fat compo-
nent in the milk could also inuence water absorption by
accumulating on the surface of the extrudates (Machado
et al. 1999). Hindrance to water absorption could be
aggravated further due to the hydrophobic nature of fat
adhered to the extrudates (Machado et al. 1998).
Modeling rehydration kinetics
The results of nonlinear regression including the scale
(rate) parameter, a, the shape parameter, b, and equilib-
rium moisture content, M
e
in equation (1), and the
degree of t in terms of R
2
and RMSE are presented in
Table 1. The results revealed that the normalized Weibull
model adequately described the rehydration characteristics
of tef our breakfast cereals in water and milk with high
R
2
(0.980.99) and small RMSE values. Besides the quan-
tied values of R
2
and RMSE, the adequacy of the model
was evaluated by the residual plot (Fig. 2). The residuals
were found to be randomly distributed, demonstrating
that the model adequately described the rehydration
kinetics of the extrudates. Earlier studies have also shown
that the normalized Weibull model adequately described
the rehydration kinetics of puffed breakfast cereals and
other dried products (Ilincanu et al. 1995; Cunha et al.
1998; Machado et al. 1998, 1999; Sacchetti et al. 2003,
2005; Marabi and Saguy 2004; Solomon 2008).
The value of a, which represents the time required to
achieve 63% of the maximum moisture uptake (1 e
1
),
was determined to be 2309.7, 150.59, and 123.47 min for
samples extruded at 110, 130, and 150C, respectively, indi-
cating that the samples hydrated in water and extruded at
barrel temperature of 150C had a high water absorption
rate followed by those extruded using 130 and 110C barrel
temperature. The trend was similar for extrudates hydrated
in milk (Table 1). Similar trends of the effect of extrusion
temperature on the hydration rate of breakfast cereals have
been reported (Sacchetti et al. 2005). The value of a was
Table 1. Parameters and degree of t in normalized Weibull model at different barrel temperatures.
Temperature (C)
In water In milk
a (min) b M
e
R
2
RMSE a (min) b M
e
R
2
RMSE
110 2309.7 0.40 6.48 0.994 0.0424 381.65 0.51 3.22 0.981 0.084
130 150.59 0.73 5.88 0.986 0.1863 335.63 0.60 5.05 0.979 0.1605
150 123.47 0.73 6.05 0.992 0.1497 229.22 0.66 4.81 0.976 0.1684
M
e
, equilibrium moisture content; a, scale (rate) parameter; b, shape parameter; RMSE, root mean square error.
0.6
0.0
0.6
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0
Predicted MC
R
e
s
i
d
u
a
l
s
Figure 2. Plot of predicted moisture contents versus residuals.
42 2013 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Tef Extrudate Hydration W. K. Solomon
found to be higher in milk than that in water (Table 1),
demonstrating that the water absorption rate of samples
hydrated in milk is less than that in water. This is also evi-
dent from the trends of the tted lines (Fig. 1). Higher val-
ues of a indicate low water absorption rate or more time is
required to reach 63% of the equilibrium moisture content
(Ilincanu et al. 1995; Machado et al. 1998). The solids and
fat in the milk coupled with less amount of free water could
hinder the mass transfer process (Machado et al. 1997,
1999), resulting in lower degree of hydration of the extru-
dates hydrated in milk than in water. It was also visually
observed that extrudates hydrated in water swell more and
their structure was lost relatively easily, thereby decreasing
the resistance to mass transfer whereas those hydrated in
milk had a better retention of structure thus decreasing the
water absorption rate. A similar phenomenon was reported
for puffed breakfast cereals hydrated in water and milk
(Machado et al. 1997). The water absorption rate of tef
appeared to be less as compared to commercial puffed corn
breakfast cereals (a = 32 min) (Machado et al. 1997, 1999)
hydrated in water at 25C, cereal-based breakfast cereals
(a = 32.5 to 6.7 min) (Sacchetti et al. 2005), and corn
akes and akes made from a mixture of cereals (a = 15.97
and 60.28 min) (Sacchetti et al. 2003) hydrated in semi-
skimmed milk. This difference could be attributed to the
high bulk density of tef extrudates, which was 1380, 610
and 490 kg/m
3
at barrel temperature of 110, 130, and
150C, respectively (Kebede 2006), compared with most
corn and rice-based commercial breakfast cereals where the
bulk density ranges from 90 to 320 kg/m
3
(Ilo et al. 1996,
1999; Guha et al. 1997). However, the hydration rate of tef
extrudates processed at 130 and 150C was higher than
that of commercial peanut butter breakfast cereals
(a = 503 min) hydrated in water at 25C (Machado et al.
1998), which could be attributed to the fat content of the
peanut butter breakfast cereals.
The value of the shape parameter, b, ranged between
0.40 and 0.73 (Table 1), indicating that the process is pre-
dominantly controlled by diffusion for extrudates pro-
cessed at 110C, whereas external resistance to mass
transfer dominated for those extruded at 130 and 150C
(Cunha et al. 1998). Higher values of b (preferably more
than 1) correspond to the lag time for moisture uptake
(Machado et al. 1998) and are desirable with regard to
the maintenance of crispness during rehydration (Mach-
ado et al. 1997). Thus, extrudates processed at 130 and
150C barrel temperature would maintain better crispness
during rehydration.
The equilibrium moisture content, M
e
, generally
increased with an increase in barrel temperature (Table 1),
which is also apparent from the trends observed in Fig-
ure 1. This phenomenon could be attributed to less
expanded, less porous, and dense internal structure of the
extrudates extruded at low temperatures (Fletcher et al.
1985; Anderson and Hedlund 1990; Ilo et al. 1996, 1999;
Bhattacharya 1997; Guha et al. 1997; De Pilli et al. 2005)
that reduces the water-holding capacity. However, extru-
dates processed at 110C barrel temperature and hydrated
in water appeared to have high moisture content
(Table 1). Despite its statistical reliability, this high M
e
value should be considered cautiously. In view of the stea-
dily continued water absorption observed during the
experimentation by samples extruded at 110C and the
associated a value (2309.7 min), it was not possible to
approach equilibrium condition. Therefore, it is possible
to arrive at such a high estimated equilibrium moisture
content value. When the experimental data depart from
equilibrium, the precision of the parameters estimate
decreases and M
e
tends to be overestimated (Cunha et al.
1998; Machado et al. 1998).
The equilibrium moisture content of extrudates
hydrated in whole milk was found to be slightly lower
than those hydrated in water (Table 1). This could be
attributed to the role of the fat and solids, which might
have blocked the pores, resulting in smaller hydration or
water-holding capacity. In earlier studies on rehydration
of puffed breakfast cereals, the equilibrium moisture con-
tent of samples hydrated in water was twice the value of
those hydrated in milk (Machado et al. 1997). Similarly,
the increase in the concentration of total solids and fat
content of milk has been reported to decrease the equilib-
rium moisture content of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals
(Machado et al. 1999), which further explains the inu-
ence of solids and fat content on the hydration (water-
holding) capacity.
Conclusions
The water absorption rate and water absorption capacity
(equilibrium moisture content) increased with an increase
in barrel temperature from 110 to 150C. The normalized
Weibull model adequately described the water absorption
characteristic of tef our breakfast cereals hydrated in
water and milk. Hence, the model could be used for pre-
diction and process optimization purposes, though it
lacks theoretical basis. Water absorption rate and equilib-
rium moisture content were higher for extrudates
hydrated in water than those hydrated in milk. In view of
the values of the shape parameter b (0.400.73), the rehy-
dration process is predominantly controlled by diffusion
for samples extruded at 110C, whereas external resistance
to mass transfer dominated for those extruded using 150
and 130C. Extrudates processed at 130 and 150C barrel
temperature could maintain better crispness during rehy-
dration. Hence, this temperature range might be preferred
for producing tef our breakfast cereals.
2013 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 43
W. K. Solomon Tef Extrudate Hydration
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Ashena Bahiru for his assis-
tance in the course of the experimentation. Laike Kebede
is acknowledged for providing the extrudates.
Conict of Interest
None declared.
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