JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS BY STEVE RANGER
Green banana flour is emerging as a promising ingredient for innovative foods, providing new options for consumers as well as cutting waste. Now researchers in Brazil have investigated the physicochemical, technological and sensory properties of savoury biscuits formulated with green banana pulp and pulp-and-peel mixed flours.
Banana is one of the most widely produced and commercialised fruits worldwide, explains Frederico Barros, professor at the Federal University of Vicosa, Brazil. However, substantial quantities are lost along the supply chain, mainly as a result of inadequate post-harvest handling practices.
Green – unripe – banana has been identified as a raw material for the development of functional foods, as it is rich in dietary fibre and antioxidants.
‘The use of green banana flour represents a practical strategy to reduce losses, decrease waste management costs, and mitigate associated environmental impacts,’ Barros says.
Green banana is one of the richest natural sources of resistant starch (RS), a fraction that resists enzymatic digestion in the small intestine, he says.
RS is recognised as an important component of dietary fibre due to its physiological effects, including modulation of gastric emptying, postprandial glycemic response, insulin secretion, lipid metabolism, and gut microbiota composition.
However, as with other starch sources, processing conditions can significantly reduce RS content while increasing rapidly digestible starch, which may lead to elevated postprandial glucose levels and other adverse health effects.
‘Therefore, understanding starch chemistry and the impact of processing is essential to preserve RS during food development,’ Barros says. Savoury biscuits have been touted as a promising option for the delivery of micronutrients and bioactive compounds, the researchers said, because they are widely consumed across all age groups and their consumption can fit in with busy daily routines.
‘A promising strategy to enhance the nutritional quality of biscuits involves the incorporation of unconventional flours rich in bioactive compounds, such as those derived from unripe bananas,’ said the paper, published in SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
These flours are mainly produced from the pulp, but in addition to the pulp, green banana peel flour has attracted growing interest due to its notable nutritional and functional properties, the researchers said.
While green banana pulp flour is primarily rich in resistant starch, green banana peel flour contains higher levels of other dietary fibres, minerals, and antioxidant compounds, despite remaining underexplored and underutilised. ‘The combination of pulp and peel flours provides complementary and potentially synergistic effects from a nutritional and functional perspective,’ Barros says.
While the addition of these ingredients can enhance the nutritional profile of these products, they can also impact on measures such as texture and colour. And although green banana pulp and peel flours have been studied separately in bakery products, their combined use in savoury biscuits has not been explored.
The team investigated four formulations – a control (0-PF), prepared with sweet and sour cassava starches, and three formulations in which 50% of the total cassava starch was replaced with green banana flours containing different pulp-to-peel ratios, 80-PF (80:20), 90-PF (90:10) and 100-PF (100% pulp flour).
The paper said that the 80-PF and 90-PF formulations exhibited higher protein, lipid, and ash contents, and all three enriched formulations (80-PF, 90-PF and 100-PF) showed increased levels of total dietary fibre and resistant starch.
All formulations achieved mean sensory scores above the acceptability threshold, the researchers said, and the 90-PF formulation received the highest score for texture, likely due to its denser internal matrix and ‘optimal crunchiness’.
Barros says the team successfully developed savoury biscuits formulated with green banana pulp flour and mixed pulp–peel flours which were rich in dietary fibre and antioxidants, and said processing of green bananas into flour represents a strategic approach for the valorisation of agro-industrial by-products.
‘Beyond improving the nutritional profile of food formulations, this approach enhances product versatility, reduces post-harvest losses, and supports a circular economy. principles,’ he says.
Savory biscuits formulated with mixed green banana pulp and peel flours: A sustainable approach to enhance nutritional, technological and sensory properties
Leonara Martins Viana, Carlos Wanderlei Piler Carvalho, Hércia Stampini Duarte Martino, Maria Teresa Galvão, Mária Herminia Ferrari Felisberto, Frederico Augusto Ribeiro de Barros
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70573
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