New chestnut based chips optimization: effects of ingredients

The objective of this study was to develop, produce and optimize new chestnut-based chips. The effect of three ingredients, lipids (x1), glucose syrup (x2) and albumin (x3), was investigated in a mixture experiment. The sum of the component proportions (x1+ x2 + x3) was always equal to one. Experimental design points were determined by the extreme vertices design. The effect of three different lipids (palm oil, butter and a mixture of maize oil and margarine) was also investigated. Quantitative descriptive analysis was performed by eight trained judges who evaluated nine sensory attributes. ANOVA results showed that varying the levels of ingredients does not affect adhesiveness, oily mouth coating or astringency. All the other attributes (colour, crispness, hardness, oiliness, sweetness and chestnut flavour) were used as response variables in regression models built to determine the optimal levels of ingredients. Contour plots for sensory attributes and lipid type were generated and superimposed to determine areas of overlap. Optimal conditions were generated by setting the best sensory performance as a goal for each response. Three optimal formulations were found for each lipid, two of which were used for a consumer test to evaluate chip acceptability.