Dietary fiber-and antioxidant-enriched cookies prepared by using jackfruit rind powder and ascorbic acid

The demand for dietary fiber-rich cookies has increased due to customer awareness about the importance of dietary fiber in human health. In addition, the urge of creating food sustainability has led to the need to reuse food by-products. In this study, dietary fiber-rich cookies were developed by incorporating jackfruit rind (JFR) powder, a by-product of jackfruit processing, as a replacement for wheat flour. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of different replacement levels (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40%) on the proximate composition, physical properties and overall sensory acceptability of the cookies. While JFR powder addition led to a significant increase in dietary fiber and antioxidant (phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids) contents of the cookies, the physical properties and overall acceptability of the cookies were adversely affected. The total dietary fiber and total phenolic content of the cookies at 40% JFR powder addition were 5 and 5.5 times as much as those of the cookies with 0% JFR powder addition. To address the adverse effects of JFR addition, various concentrations of ascorbic acid (AA), a dough improver agent, were added to the blended dough, and their effects on dough and cookie properties were investigated. With the addition of ascorbic acid at concentrations of 200 mg ascorbic acid per 100 g of the blend flour, the cookie density and cookie hardness reduced by 16% and 31%, respectively while the overall acceptability increased by 37% compared to those of the cookies without ascorbic acid addition.