Cereal Chem 67:275-281   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Chemical and Technological Variables and Their Relationships: A Predictive Equation for Pasta Cooking Quality.

M. G. D'Egidio, B. M. Mariani, S. Nardi, P. Novaro, and R. Cubadda. Copyright 1990 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Fifty samples of 10 Italian durum wheat varieties were analyzed by technological and chemical tests and 26 variables were obtained; their value in predicting pasta cooking quality was investigated. Pasta was dried at two temperatures (40 and 80 C), and cooking quality was measured as organoleptic judgment (OJ) and total organic matter (TOM). Factor analysis was applied to the variables as a clustering tool; among the six factors identified, three were useful in describing the relationships among variables. The first, related to rheological characteristics (manual gluten quality, sodium dodecyl sulfate sedimentation test, and viscoelastographic, alveographic, and farinographic measurements), was defined as the quality factor. The second, associated with protein and gluten content, was called the quantity factor. Another factor (the sixth) was related mainly to cooking quality parameters of pasta dried at 40 C, whereas the quality parameters at 80 C were linked to the second factor. Multiple regressions were calculated to evaluate the combined effects of one variable from the quantity factor and one from the quality factor on OJ and TOM of pasta dried at 40 and 80 C. Among the many variables of gluten quality, amanual evaluation and alveograph W value were the most efficient; for the quantity variable, protein content was used. The role played by these variables differed with drying temperature; at 40 C the quantity and quality variables had almost the same worth, but at 80 C protein content was prevalent. Predictive equations for pasta cooking quality were calculated with these variables and the values needed to produce a significant improvement in pasta cooking quality were found.