More healthful milk chocolate by adding peanut, coffee waste

Date:
August 17, 2020
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Milk chocolate is a consumer-favorite worldwide, prized for its
sweet flavor and creamy texture. In contrast, dark chocolate has
high levels of phenolic compounds, which can provide antioxidant
health benefits, but is less popular. Today, researchers report
a new way to combine milk chocolate with waste peanut skins and
other wastes to boost its antioxidant properties.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Milk chocolate is a consumer favorite worldwide, prized for its sweet
flavor and creamy texture. This confection can be found in all types of
treats, but it isn't exactly health food. In contrast, dark chocolate
has high levels of phenolic compounds, which can provide antioxidant
health benefits, but it is also a harder, more bitter chocolate. Today, researchers report a new way to combine milk chocolate with waste peanut
skins and other wastes to boost its antioxidant properties.


==========================================================================
The researchers will present their results today at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.

"The idea for this project began with testing different types of
agricultural waste for bioactivity, particularly peanut skins," says Lisa
Dean, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator. "Our initial goal was
to extract phenolics from the skins and find a way to mix them with food."
When manufacturers roast and process peanuts to make peanut butter,
candy and other products, they toss aside the papery red skins that
encase the legume inside its shell. Thousands of tons of peanut skins
are discarded each year, but since they contain 15% phenolic compounds
by weight, they're a potential goldmine of antioxidant bioactivity. Not
only do antioxidants provide anti- inflammatory health benefits, they
also help keep food products from spoiling.

"Phenolics are very bitter, so we had to find some way to mitigate
that sensation," Dean says. In fact, the natural presence of phenolic
compounds is what gives dark chocolate its bitterness, along with less
fat and sugar compared to its cousin milk chocolate. Dark varieties are
also more expensive than milk ones because of their higher cocoa content,
so the addition of a waste like peanut skins provides similar benefits
for a fraction of the price.

And peanut skins are not the only food waste that can enhance milk
chocolate in this way; the researchers are also exploring the extraction
and incorporation of phenolic compounds from used coffee grounds,
discarded tea leaves and other food scraps.

To create their antioxidant-boosted milk chocolate, Dean and her team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Research Service worked with peanut companies to obtain the peanut
skins. From there, they ground the skins into a powder, and extracted
the phenolic compounds with 70% ethanol. The lignin and cellulose left
behind can be used in animal feed as roughage. They also worked with
local coffee roasters and tea producers to obtain used coffee grounds and
tea leaves, using a similar methodology to extract the antioxidants from
those materials. The phenolic powder is then combined with maltodextrin,
a common food additive, to make it easier to incorporate into the final
milk chocolate product.

To make sure their new confection would pass gastronomic muster, the researchers created individual squares of chocolate with concentrations of phenolics ranging from 0.1% to 8.1% and had a trained sensory panel taste
each one. The goal was to have the phenolic powder be undetectable in the flavor of the milk chocolate. The taste-testers found that concentrations
over 0.9% were detectable, but incorporating the phenolics at 0.8%
resulted in a good compromise of a high level of bioactivity without sacrificing flavor or texture. In fact, more than half of the taste
testers preferred the 0.8% phenolic milk chocolate over the undosed
control milk chocolate. This sample had higher chemical antioxidant
activity than most dark chocolates.

While these results are very promising, Dean and team also acknowledge
that peanuts are a major food allergy concern. They tested the phenolic
powder made from the skins for presence of allergens, and while none
were detected, they say that a product containing peanut skins should
still be labeled as containing peanuts.

Next, the researchers plan to further explore the use of peanut skins,
coffee grounds and other waste products into additional foods. In
particular, Dean is hoping to test whether the antioxidants in peanut
skins extend the shelf life of nut butters, which can go rancid quickly
because of their high fat content.

While commercial availability of their boosted chocolate is still a ways
off and subject to corporate patents, they hope that their efforts will eventually lead to a better milk chocolate on supermarket shelves.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


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Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817104323.htm

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