107 The development of a sweetpotato cookie using an extruded sweetpotato:rice product.

G. JONES (1), R. J. Bryant (2), J. Y. Lu (1), E. Bromfield (1), and S. N. Hardy (1). (1) Dept. of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088; (2) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, LA.

The focus of future snack development will be on variety, nutrition, flavor, taste and texture. New snacks should be macro- and micro-nutrient balanced with less fat and higher levels of protein, complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber. To accomplish this goal scientists at Tuskegee University and USDA-ARS- SRRC have collaborated on the development of an extruded sweetpotato:rice (50:50) product. This product has been used in the development of a reduced fat sweetpotato cookie. Product was extruded at USDA on a Werner and Pfleiderer corotating twin-screw extruder (model zsk). The extruded sweetpotato:rice (ESR) product was able to absorb more water than the unextruded sweetpotato flour. Cookies were evaluated for preference using a 9-point hedonic scale. Cookies made with unextruded sweetpotato flour were used as the control. The test cookies were as following: (1) ESR with fat content equal to that of the control (2) ESR with 50% less fat and (3) ESR with 67% less fat. There was no significant preference difference between the control and the ESR with fat content equal to the control. However, some panelists did observe an off flavor with the control that was not seen with the ESR products. The panelists also stated that the reduced fat cookies needed more spices and were too dry and tougher.