Using Chia Seed Gel as a Substitution for Eggs in Pumpkin Muffins to Enhance Protein and Fiber Values NUTR 453 Written Report Cody Long Lindsay Swartz November 22, 2014
Abstract: In today s time, people have trouble getting enough fiber and other antioxidants and minerals incorporated into their diets. By substituting a chia seed gel mixture for eggs into a muffin recipe, one can increase the amount of fiber and other minerals that they intake. For this experiment/procedure, a simple pumpkin muffin recipe was used to test this theory. With the control of no chia seeds added, and then three additional variables to substitute chia seed gel for eggs (one at a time), we were able to see that baking time increased for the variables (with more chia seed gel), as well as crunchiness due to the added chia seeds. When the muffins came out of the oven and cooled, you could tell that the muffins were crunchier, had more fiber (along with the oats), and taste slightly differed from the main control. Some simple methods that we used to test our muffins was that fellow students were asked to rate the aroma, taste, flavor, and appearance of the muffins on a 9 point hedonic scale. In short, adding chia seeds to a recipe either as a stand alone ingredient, or as a substitution for an ingredient like eggs could help you gain more fiber and make your diet healthier. Introduction: Chia seeds were a staple part of the Aztec and Mayan diets for centuries. Some races in ancient Mexico regularly used the chia seeds as a cereal (Bushway, 1981). This would make it mimic the texture of cereal or granola and other breakfast items. Some chia seeds were collected from plants in Southwestern United States. They are collected from plants that are well adapted to dry and arid climates (Weber, 2010). They are a part of the Labiatae family, which is the same family as mint (Preedy, 2011). When the seeds are soaked in water, they will form copious mucilaginous polysaccharide envelopes around the seeds (Weber, 2010). This can then be used as an oil or egg substitute in some foods. This formation of polysaccharides allows gel to replace eggs because of the formation of gummy networks. These polysaccharides can form networks very similar to those of denatured egg proteins. Therefore, when water is added to chia seeds, the starch granules in the chia seeds after hydration and heat form a starch gel. This concept makes the chia seed gel replaceable with an egg (Roth Johnson, 2013). They also display characteristics similar to flax seeds (Coorey, 2014). Chia seeds contain anywhere from 19 26.5% of protein, 15.9 34.1% oils, 22.1 33.4% fiber, and 47.1 59.8% dietary fiber depending on where the seeds come from etc. (Weber, 2010). But in today s time, they are used for a variety of uses such as additions to drinks like Naked (a smoothie like drink), addition in cooked dishes, or even just as a snack. Chia seeds are a good source of nutrients and antioxidants such as omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Another interesting fact about chia seeds is that they can be consumed on a gluten free diet, and that they can help lower triglycerides and cholesterol while increasing HDL or good cholesterol. While chia seeds may be good for cholesterol, one needs to watch out if you are taking chia seeds in addition to an anticoagulant like aspirin. There is a possibility for an increased bleeding risk for those who are taking them at the same
time (Wikipedia, 2014). There is not much data on this, but preliminary reports have discovered this fact. Methods: Objective: The objective of this research project was to test the efficiency of using a chia seed gel as an egg replacer in pumpkin muffins. Chia seeds add nutritional value to pumpkin muffins, providing fiber and many antioxidants and minerals. The recipe below was used in this experiment. This recipe was found on allrecipes.com. Ingredients: 592 grams all purpose flour 119 grams rolled oats 20 grams pumpkin pie spice 10 grams baking soda 5 grams baking powder 5 grams salt 356 grams pumpkin puree 237 grams brown sugar 237 grams white sugar 157 ml vegetable oil 119 ml applesauce 3 eggs 5 grams vanilla extract Pecan Streusel Topping: 60 grams packed brown sugar 30 grams butter, softened 30 grams rolled oats 30 grams all purpose flour Chia Seed Gel Mixture: 1 egg is equivalent to 30 grams chia seeds and 118.3 ml of water *Control: 3 eggs *Variable 1: 2 eggs and 1 chia seed gel mixture *Variable 2: 1 egg and 2 chia seed gel mixtures *Variable 3: 0 eggs and 3 chia seed gel mixtures
The recipe for the chia seed gel egg replacer can be found according to reference below: Smith, M. (2012, July 1). Surprising Egg Substitutes. Better Nutrition. Procedures: The three trials were produced using the following steps: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. 2. Combine 592 grams flour, 119 grams oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk pumpkin puree, 237 brown sugar, white sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a separate large bowl. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture; mix well. Fold in raisins. 3. Beat 60 grams brown sugar with butter in a bowl until creamy and smooth. Whisk 30 grams oats and 30 grams flour, using a fork, into sugar butter mixture until streusel topping is crumbly. 4. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle each muffin with streusel topping. 5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. These procedures were used to ensure that all other variables were kept as consistent as possible. This allowed for accurate measuring of texture and consistency of the muffin batter with the addition of the chia seed mixture. Sensory Scorecard for Pumpkin Muffins: Students rated each product/variable presented based on appearance, texture, flavor and aroma. The hedonic scale was used to rate each product trial, by placing an x based on desirability. Results/Data: The 0 grams is the control, and then the increasing grams are the variables of chia seeds added.
Table 1: Effects of chia seed gel substitution on pumpkin muffins measured by texture analyzer (g force) Texture Analyzer Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average St. Deviation 0 grams 41.00 43.00 44.00 42.67 1.53 30 grams 28.90 27.40 30.30 28.87 1.45 60 grams 26.20 26.90 25.80 26.30 0.56 90 grams 25.90 26.10 25.80 25.93 0.15 Texture Analyzer Force (grams) 45.00 40.00 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 0 grams 30 grams 60 grams 90 grams Grams of Chia Seed Avg. Value Figure 1: Graph of average force for varying amounts of chia seeds in pumpkin muffins. One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Texture Analyzer The P value is < 0.0001, considered extremely significant. Variation among column means is significantly greater than expected by chance. Bonferroni Multiple Comparisons Test: Texture Analyzer If the value of t is greater than 3.286 then the P value is less than 0.05. Mean Comparison Difference t P value ================================== ========== ======= ========= Trial 1 vs Trial 2 0.3500 0.06941 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Trail 3 0.9750 0.1934 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Average 0.4425 0.08776 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Std. Deviation 29.578 5.866 *** P<0.001 Trial 2 vs Trail 3 0.6250 0.1240 ns P>0.05 Trial 2 vs Average 0.09250 0.01835 ns P>0.05 Trial 2 vs Std. Deviation 29.928 5.935 *** P<0.001 Trail 3 vs Average 0.5325 0.1056 ns P>0.05
Trail 3 vs Std. Deviation 30.553 6.059 *** P<0.001 Average vs Std. Deviation 30.020 5.954 *** P<0.001 ***The bolded comparisons are significant. Table 2: Effects of chia seed gel on batter thickness measured by Brookfield Viscometer in centipoise (cp) Brookfield Viscometer Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average St. Deviation 0 grams n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 30 grams 56,000 56,350 55,700 56,017 325.32 60 grams 54,000 53,900 54,300 54,067 208.17 90 grams 49,700 50,300 50,550 50,183 436.84 58,000 Brookfield Viscometer: Average Viscosity centipoise (cp) 56,000 54,000 52,000 50,000 48,000 Average Value 46,000 30 grams 60 grams 90 grams Grams of Chia Seeds Figure 2: Graph of average centipoise for the pumpkin batter viscosity **No bar graph for the 0 grams (control) due to thickness of batter and unavailability of data.
One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Brookfield Viscometer The P value is < 0.0001, considered extremely significant. Variation among column means is significantly greater than expected by chance. Bonferroni Multiple Comparisons Test: Brookfield Viscometer If the value of t is greater than 3.581 then the P value is less than 0.05. Mean Comparison Difference t P value ================================== ========== ======= =========== Trial 1 vs Trial 2 283.33 0.1301 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Trail 3 283.33 0.1301 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Average 189.00 0.08681 ns P>0.05 Trial 1 vs Std. Deviation 52910 24.303 *** P<0.001 Trial 2 vs Trail 3 0.000 0.000 ns P>0.05 Trial 2 vs Average 94.333 0.04333 ns P>0.05 Trial 2 vs Std. Deviation 53193 24.433 *** P<0.001 Trail 3 vs Average 94.333 0.04333 ns P>0.05 Trail 3 vs Std. Deviation 53193 24.433 *** P<0.001 Average vs Std. Deviation 53099 24.390 *** P<0.001 ***The bolded comparisons are significant. Table 3: Effects of chia seeds gel on batter fluidity measured by Linespread Apparatus Linespread Apparatus Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average St. Deviation 0 grams n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 30 grams n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 60 grams n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 90 grams n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a **No graph available due to the unavailability of data. Table 4: Average rankings on a 9 point Hedonic Scale for aroma, flavor, texture, and appearance for chia seed gel substitution in pumpkin muffins Amount of Chia Seeds Aroma Flavor Texture Appearance 0 grams 2.43 2.29 2.43 2.57 30 grams 2.57 2.57 3.43 3.71
60 grams 2.00 3.00 3.71 2.57 90 grams 3.00 2.67 2.67 4.50 Mean Hedonic Score Amount of Chia Seeds Appearance Texture Flavor Aroma 90 grams 60 grams 30 grams 0 grams 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Mean Values Figure 3: Average 9 point hedonic rankings for aroma, flavor, texture, and appearance of the pumpkin muffins (with one being the best/highest score). One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): 9 point Hedonic Scale The P value is 0.2467, considered not significant. Variation among column means is not significantly greater than expected by chance. Bonferroni Multiple Comparisons Test: 9 point Hedonic Scale If the value of t is greater than 3.153 then the P value is less than 0.05. Mean Comparison Difference t P value ================================== ========== ======= =========== Aroma vs Flavor 0.1325 0.3045 ns P>0.05 Aroma vs Texture 0.5600 1.287 ns P>0.05 Aroma vs Appearance 0.8375 1.925 ns P>0.05 Flavor vs Texture 0.4275 0.9825 ns P>0.05 Flavor vs Appearance 0.7050 1.620 ns P>0.05 Texture vs Appearance 0.2775 0.6377 ns P>0.05 ***The bolded comparisons are significant.
Discussion: One of the factors measured was texture, using the Texture Analyzer. This is important to test because with addition of each increased variable of chia seed mixture, the texture of the muffin batter was altered. This is an important variable to test in this experiment. Based on the data shown above in table 1 and figure 1, the greatest amount of force was needed for the trials with 0 and 30 grams of chia seed mixture added. This shows that the batter is thicker and more resistant to flow. Table 1 shows that variable 3 (90 grams of chia seeds) had the softest batter compared to the other variables. This was because as the amount of chia seed mixture increased, the batter s consistency became more fluid versus the thicker control variable. This consistency change may have been because of the lack of emulsifying egg properties in the batter. Egg yolk adds moisturizing fat and helps emulsify the batter (Gardiner, 2014). Although, chia seeds are mimicking these properties, there are possible flaws in this replacement, thus the purpose of the experiment. Based on the figure 1, the graph show how the amount of force needed for the texture analyzer decreased with the addition of chia seeds. This makes sense because the seeds made the batter display decreased emulsifying properties because of the lack of egg properties. Using a Bonferroni Multiple Comparison test, it was determined that all three trials and the average compared to the standard deviation were significant to the texture analyzer because the P values were less than 0.001. This shows that the chia seeds added created significant difference throughout all the trials. Using a One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the P value is <0.0001 which is extremely significant. Another measurement used in the experiment was the Brookfield viscometer. This was to test the fluidity/thickness of the batter for each variable. Concerning fluidity, if one s batter is too thin/very fluid it could bake more like a cake instead of having thicker batter such like bread or muffin does. The figure two, and table two show that the control has the largest viscosity (although there is no control on the graph), and that the 90 grams of added chia seed content has the most fluidity for the batters that were tested. Based on table two, the control batter was too thick to gather data with. As the chia seed content in the batter increased, the better the data was due to the more fluid like state that the batter was portraying.
Figure two shows that the viscosity of the different variable batters decreased with the added chia seed content. Due to the properties of the chia seed gel, it does not bind as well as the egg proteins due, thus giving it a more fluid like appearance. Using a One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the Brookfield viscometer, the P values were <0.0001, which is considered extremely significant. The Bonferroni Multiple Comparison test shows that the three trials and the average against the standard deviation are significant when the P value is <0.001. All of the others are showing that they are non significant. The Linespread apparatus was also an objective test that was used to help determine the amount of flow that each of the batters had. Due to the thickness of the batters, with the oats, the amount of flour, and sugar and pumpkin puree, the batter could not be measured using the Linespread apparatus. The batter did not flow, thus limiting the data that was gathered. No flow was achieved in any of the tests due to batter thickness. Due to the unattainable data, no P values could be obtained for this objective test. Subjective Tests: The results of the subjective testing section of the experiment were gathered from sensory tables using the hedonic scale to rank properties based on desirability. The muffins were observed based on appearance, flavor, texture and aroma. The sensory panel consisted of at least 9 students in the NUTR453 laboratory class. Each trial was represented by a random three digit code. Each trial was displayed and offered to the students to rank. An example of the hedonic scale can be found below: Variable #297 Like Aroma Flavor Texture Appearance Please Place and X based on desirability. Variable #465 Like Aroma Flavor Texture Appearance Please Place and X based on desirability. Neither Like or Neither Like or
Variable #138 Like Aroma Flavor Texture Appearance Please Place and X based on desirability. Variable #871 Like Aroma Flavor Texture Appearance Please Place and X based on desirability. Neither Like or Neither Like or Please rate using the Hedonic Scale. To ensure that all other variables were kept at a consistent value for each trial, the same size muffin pan and same objective measuring devices were used. All of our data was collected in the lab notebook and transferred into an excel document in order to organize and construct our results and tables. Using the One way anova, the P value is 0.2467, which is considered not significant. In each comparison of the Bonferroni Multiple Comparison test, all of the trials were considered not significant due to the t values that were greater than 3.153, which made the P values are less than 0.05. Conclusion: In short, added chia seed content resulted in better appearance, more crunch, better aroma, and more flavor. It also decreased the viscosity of the batter before baking with the addition of chia seeds, as well as dropping slightly and maintaining the texture according to the texture analyzer. The chia seeds altered the consumer s preference from the normal muffin to the chia seed added muffin in a positive way. Some sources of error that could have been incurred included incorrect measuring of the ingredients, incorrect use of the machinery such as the texture analyzer, the baking time varied for each variable over a period of time, the same oven was not used in each of the trials including placement of the pan in the oven, and judgment of the batter being thoroughly mixed was inconsistent. Further
research could be done on the addition of chia seeds in different foods such as breads, smoothies, and even eating the chia seeds on their own as a snack. References: Bushway, A. A., Belyea, P. R. and Bushway, R. J. (1981), Chia Seed as a Source of Oil, Polysaccharide, and Protein. Journal of Food Science, 46: 1349 1350. Coorey, R., Tjoe, A., & Jayasena, V. (2014). Gelling Properties of Chia Seeds and Flour. Journal of Food Science, 79(5), E859 E866. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750 3841.12444/full Gardiner, A., & Wilson, S. (n.d.). The Amazing Multi tasking Egg. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/icooks/article_5 03.html Preedy, V., Watson, R., & Patel, V. (2011). Whole and Ground Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) Seeds, Chia Oil Effects on Plasma Lipids and Fatty Acids. In Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 309 315). Academic Press. Roth Johnson, L. (2013). Baking Without Eggs. Science & Food. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/baking without eggs/ Salvia hispanica. (2014, November 11). Retrieved November 25, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/salvia_hispanica#preliminary_health_research Smith, M. (2012, July 1). Surprising Egg Substitutes. Better Nutrition. Weber, C., Gentry, H., Kohlhepp, E., & McCrohan, P. (2010). The Nutritional and Chemical Evaluation of Chia Seeds. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 26(2), 119 125.