Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026
04:36
Innovative Adipose Tissue Fractionation for Transforming Fat into Specialized Components
Published on: July 11, 2025
Partial Fat Substitution in Butter Cookies Using Thermochemically Modified Unripe Plantain (Musa paradisiaca AAB)
Jhon Esteban Armenta-Roncancio1, Natalia Jose Muentes-Arismendy2, Eduardo Rodriguez Sandoval3
1Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Departamento de Ingeniería Agrícola y Alimentos, Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Medellín Campus, Medellín, Colombia.
Plant Foods for Human Nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
|August 13, 2026
Summary
Thermochemically modified unripe plantain flour with fumaric acid enhances reduced-fat butter cookies. This fat substitute improved sensory acceptability, texture, and resistant starch content, offering a healthier baking alternative.
Area of Science:
- Food Science
- Nutritional Biochemistry
- Materials Science
Background:
- Reducing fat content in baked goods is a significant challenge in food product development.
- Unripe plantain flour is a potential source of resistant starch, a beneficial carbohydrate.
- Thermochemical modification offers a method to alter food ingredient properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate thermochemically modified unripe plantain flour (UPF) with fumaric acid as a fat substitute in butter cookies.
- To assess the impact of this modified UPF on sensory acceptability, physicochemical properties, and carbohydrate digestibility.
- To determine the potential for developing healthier, reduced-fat butter cookies.
Main Methods:
- Unripe plantain flour was modified using thermochemical treatment with fumaric acid.
- Modified UPF was incorporated into butter cookie formulations at a reduced fat level (24.73%).
- Sensory evaluation, baking performance (mass loss, structure), proximate analysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis (digestible/resistant starch) were conducted.
Main Results:
- Incorporation of modified UPF significantly increased sensory acceptability by 65% compared to native UPF.
- Reduced fat content altered baking mass loss and cookie porosity but maintained ash and protein levels.
- Cookies exhibited higher resistant starch content and reduced rapidly/slowly digestible starch proportions.
- Reduced-fat cookies showed increased firmness, crispness, and browning intensity.
Conclusions:
- Thermochemically modified unripe plantain flour with fumaric acid is a viable fat substitute for reduced-fat butter cookies.
- This ingredient improves sensory appeal, textural characteristics (crispness), and functional properties (reduced digestibility).
- The modified flour offers a promising avenue for healthier baked product development.
