Toward the enhancement of sensory profile of sausage "Merguez" with chickpea protein concentrate.

The influence of different Chickpea Protein Concentrates (CPC) addition at different levels (CPC: 1.5, 2.5 and 5% (w/w)) on physico-chemical, textural and hedonic properties of formulated and cooked sausage "Merguez" were investigated. The obtained results exhibited that CPC addition increased protein content of "Merguez" sausage and improved the process yield. Significant differences were noticed on the cooking loss and textural properties for "Merguez" sausages formulated with 5% of CPC compared to the control (p < 0.05). Hedonic analysis showed that protein addition had no significant effect on sausages taste. However, sausage texture and global acceptability were markedly improved (p < 0.05). These results suggest that CPC could be an important alternative source of protein additive for the improvement of the physico-chemical, textural and sensorial properties of meat sausages.

Influence of the ripening stage and the lyophilization of wild cardoon flowers on their chemical composition, enzymatic activities of extracts and technological properties of cheese curds.

The selection of an appropriate Cynara cardunculus flowers batch is a preliminary step to produce rennet with better clotting properties. For this reason, we proposed to study the influence of the ripening stage and the lyophilization of cardoon flowers on their chemical composition, enzymatic activities of extracts, and technological properties of cheese curds. Results of flowers composition have shown that lyophilized flowers harvested at the middle of ripening stage (A) could be employed to produce mainly proteins or milk-clotting proteases. To confirm this, enzymatic activities of extracts and technological properties of curds were assessed. The experimental findings revealed that flowers lyophilization seems to be an efficient way to produce rennet with better clotting properties, leading to higher yield, moisture, and texture parameters of curd. These findings allowed us to select lyophilized flowers (A) for further cheese making process.

Phenolic Profiles, Phytchemicals and Mineral Content of Decoction and Infusion of Opuntia ficus-indica Flowers.

Opuntia flowers are a natural source of biologically active compounds and they have been used as medicinal plant for a long time. Despite the various uses reported for the decoction and infusion of these flowers, their characterization has been discarded. In this study, the decoction and infusion prepared from Opuntia ficus-indica were analyzed with respect to their content in minerals and phytochemicals in order to evaluate its nutritional characteristics. The obtained data proved that these preparations are a rich source of minerals mainly K and Ca. Moreover, the phytochemical analysis revealed that they have important polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins contents with the infusion that presented the highest polyphenol levels. LC-MS analyses of decoction and infusion allowed the characterization of 20 phenolic compounds. It is mainly identified by the presence of flavonols glycosides.