Flours and starches grain, roots, tubers and bananas in the development of traditional products and special schemes

Abstract

Venezuela produces potential items to elaborate fl ours; such as, grains, roots, tubers and bananas; however, wheat, imported cereal, is the source of fl our for the elaboration of the most consumed farinaceous products in the country. Giving added value to these items, producing fl ours or starches for the development of new products, would avoid post-harvest losses, and this would
allow a stable and permanent marketing  of them and would encourage food security. Consumers with special diets must purchase their food by import, which is not very varied, non-traditional, scarce and expensive. The objective of the research was to show the feasibility of producing food for traditional consumers and those with special diets using national inputs. Flours and starches were produced and characterized in terms of their quality properties, following methodologies designed in Venezuela. From these fl ours and starches, and their combinations, products such as beverages, soup and fruit strains, pastas, breads, ponchos and bases for making cakes, pancakes and pizza were elaborated. Each one of these products was evaluated in its functional, sensory and
nutritional properties following offi cial methodologies. The results indicate the potential of elaborating and scaling up these foods with high contents of nutrients at an industrial level.