Salta specialists produce baked goods with potato peels discarded by the industry | They also use chard stems and grape pomace

2023-08-15 04:31:12

Specialists from the National University of Salta (UNSa) obtain flour from agro-industrial waste and incorporate it into baked goods. In particular, the researchers work with potato peel, grape pomace – the waste left over from wine production – and chard stems, better known as stalks. The objective of the project is to prepare food that is rich, healthy and nutritious. Although they already did some tests at the University and people were satisfied with the taste and texture of the bread, the challenge is to carry out a massive test to be able to improve it and that it can become a real alternative to those made with traditional flour.

“Agro-industrial waste has a high content of dietary fiber and antioxidant compounds that are beneficial to health, and from this the idea of ​​revaluing it arises. The Argentine population consumes little amount of fiber and antioxidants that come from fruits and vegetables, but many baked goods. Although there are some that contain fiber, none have reusable waste,” says Fernando Villalva, project director and graduate in Nutrition from UNSa.

The idea arose when Villalva and her colleague Ana Paula Olivares La Madrid wondered why these edible parts were not consumed, and what they did with the waste. “She had already been working with locally produced blueberries that were discarded and sought to generate added value,” she recalls.

Almost like an ant job, specialists get potato peels from hospitals, university canteens and food houses, as long as they are in good condition. On the other hand, the grape pomace is obtained in the Salta wineries and what costs them the most is the chard penco, since it is increasingly consumed.

Once they have the raw material, they wash it, then disinfect it with a chemical solution and dehydrate it in a kind of oven at a certain temperature. “This is done to increase the useful life of this product that has a certain amount of water and can then be ground and sieved until it becomes a powder that we call flour,” explains the nutritionist.

“Now we are in the formulation part, we have already obtained the flours and we have standardized the drying process. Once we get the powdered product, we see what nutritional value it has in terms of dietary fiber, carbohydrates and protein, and we also see the antioxidant compounds”, he details.

Once the laboratory analyzes have been carried out, the team produces different formulations to replace wheat flour with a proportion of potato, grape or chard flour, and evaluates the characteristics of these baked products. Then their nutritional qualities are studied again and finally the amount of each ingredient is standardized so that consumers can try it.

So far, the researchers have made bread with potato peels and plan to make cookies with grape pomace and chard stalk. The challenge is that these foods are pleasing in terms of taste, texture and color. For this, they invite people to try the products with different formulations and evaluate them through a rating scale.

Although they still have a long way to go, the researchers’ desire is to popularize not only food, but also flour. “We want them to be known by the population, because when we tell them what we do with the peel, pomace and stalk, people look at us askance,” Villalva points out.