Comprehensive characterisation of garlic powder incorporated pasta: Nutritional, thermal, pasting, microbial, and microstructural properties

This research aimed to investigate the effect of substituting 1.5% of durum wheat semolina with dried garlic powder on the nutritional, antioxidant activity, thermal, pasting, microbial, microstructure, and sensory properties of pasta. Garlic powder incorporation (1.5%) nutritionally enhances the overall nutritional profile of pasta, significantly increasing the allicin content to 16.04 ± 0.14 mg/100 g and total flavonoid content to 77.96 ± 0.81 mg quercetin/100 g, and increasing antioxidant activity. Thermal properties indicating a decrease in enthalpy (ΔH) of garlic incorporated pasta suggest a lower degree of crystallinity. The increased peak viscosity, reduced breakdown and final viscosity suggest improved starch-protein interactions and reduced retrogradation on the addition of garlic powder. Garlic-incorporated pasta exhibited a slight increase in water absorption (160.23%), swelling index (225.66%), and optimum cooking time (7.17 min), with lower gruel loss (7.58%). The lower microbial count in garlic-incorporated pasta suggests the antimicrobial properties of garlic powder. The morphological structure of garlic pasta had vacant spaces between the gluten networks because of the presence of garlic powder. Sensory evaluation confirmed good overall acceptability (8.53 ± 0.47) with improved appearance, texture, and flavour. Overall, garlic powder proved to be a promising functional ingredient for enhancing the overall pasta quality, acceptable by consumers and at the industrial level.