Fruit Pomace as a Functional Ingredient in Wheat Biscuits: Mineral Composition, Colour Characteristics, and Quality...

Fruit pomace represents a valuable by-product of the fruit processing industry that can be reutilized to improve the nutritional quality of bakery products while contributing to sustainable waste valorisation. This study evaluated the effect of partially replacing wheat flour with apple, sour cherry, and peach pomace (5-15%) on the mineral composition and colour characteristics of biscuits and performed a detailed physicochemical and sensory assessment of biscuits enriched with peach pomace. Biscuits were prepared by substituting wheat flour with 5%, 10%, and 15% fruit pomace. Mineral composition and colour parameters were determined for biscuits containing all three pomace types. Based on the initial screening, peach pomace was selected for further physicochemical and sensory analyses. Fruit pomace significantly improved the mineral composition of biscuits. Sour cherry pomace increased Ca, Cu, and Mg contents, whereas peach pomace enhanced Fe, K, Mg, and Zn levels. Pomace addition also affected colour, resulting in lower lightness (L*) and higher redness (a*) and yellowness (b*), depending on pomace type and concentration. In peach pomace biscuits, increasing the substitution level led to higher moisture and acidity, while biscuit diameter and thickness decreased because of gluten network dilution. Sensory evaluation showed that biscuits containing 5-10% peach pomace achieved the highest scores for colour, aroma, taste, and overall acceptability. Fruit pomace can be successfully incorporated into wheat biscuits to improve their mineral composition while maintaining satisfactory quality attributes at appropriate substitution levels. The applied two-step approach identified peach pomace as the most suitable ingredient for biscuit fortification and supports the sustainable valorisation of fruit processing by-products in bakery applications.