Research has shown that fortifying pasta with oat powder and drying it using a reduced-pressure vacuum oven can improve its nutritional and physical qualities. The study, which was published in CyTA – Journal of Food looked at the effects of adding oat powder to pasta, as well as vacuum-drying it, has on its fiber content and overall quality.

• The authors tested how the size and amount of high-fiber oat powder impact its nutrition and physical properties.
• In the tests, they fortified pasta with oat powder in ratios of 100- and 200-grams per kilogram. The sizes of the powder varied from fine, medium to coarse. The resulting pasta samples were dried with conventional methods or a reduced-pressure vacuum.
• To evaluate the efficacy of oat powder, researchers assessed the cooking quality, textural properties, color, and total dietary fiber content of the samples.
• From the results, researchers noted that reducing the size of the powder and vacuum drying improves the cooking quality of the pasta.
• They found that vacuum-dried pasta made from 100 g/kg of fine oat powder had the most ideal physical and nutritional properties. It had the lowest cooking loss and was the firmest and lightest among the samples. In addition, it also had an improved dietary fiber content of 80.7 g/kg.
• Fortifying pasta with oat powder positively affects its dietary effects, while varying its particle size and drying method benefits its physical properties.

The researchers concluded that fortified pasta with 100 g/kg of fine oat powder has optimum firmness and lightness among other samples and that vacuum drying it results in a greater overall quality compared to conventional samples.

Read the full study at this link.

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Journal Reference

Piwi?ska M, Wyrwisz J, Wierzbicka A. EFFECT OF MICRONIZATION OF HIGH-FIBER OAT POWDER AND VACUUM-DRYING ON PASTA QUALITY. CyTA – Journal of Food. 2016 Nov:1–7. DOI: 10.1080/19476337.2015.1123775