Researchers Determine Best Way To Preserve Antioxidant Anthocyanins During Baking

U.S. researchers have developed a way to bake blue corn (maize)-based cookies that preserves the colorful water-soluble anthocyanin pigments that are rich in antioxidants. The best ratio of whole-grain blue corn flour to wheat pastry flour ratio was found to be 80:20. The cookie dough was tested using added acidulants citric acid, lactic acid and glucono-δ-lactone (GDL). Cookies were backed in three oven types having different heat transfer coefficients. Cookies baked with citric acid in a convection oven at 182° C for four minutes had the highest total anthocyanin content (TAC) after baking. “By baking rapidly at lower temperatures and adding acidulants, it may be possible to increase residual natural source antioxidants in baked foods,” the researchers concluded.