Buckwheat and other grains make good gluten-free products

Several different alternative crops including amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat, are increasingly being used as raw materials in the development of new gluten-free products with greater functional properties compared to conventional products made with wheat flours.

Using a blend of amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat flours, food scientists in Austria have formulated gluten-free pasta with comparable texture firmness and cooking quality to wheat pasta.

The product development work found that pasta produced from amaranth had decreased texture firmness and cooking time, while pasta from quinoa mainly showed increased cooking loss compared to wheat pasta. The most successful gluten-free formulation analysed comprised a flour blend in the ratio of 60% buckwheat, 20% amaranth and 20% quinoa plus dough moisture of 30%, 6% egg white powder and 1.2% emulsifier.

Other work in this field, by researchers in Serbia, has found gluten free crackers enriched with buckwheat flour have the same sensory properties or product quality as crackers made from wheat flours. Buckwheat flour contains high-quality proteins, and is rich in antioxidants and minerals such as, flavonoids, phenolic acids, B vitamins, and carotenoids, adding to their functional value.

Reference 1: Schoenlechner et al. 2010. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. DOI: 10.1007/s11130-010-0194-0. Note, this paper is freely available for download from the Springerlink website.

Reference 2: Sedej et al. 2010. Food Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2010.11.010.