Incorporation of defatted coconut flour into purple sweet potato crackers: a study on texture and colour characteristics

The foremost challenge in the development of gluten-free crackers from Indonesian local tubers is their textural properties. In this work, defatted coconut flour was incorporated into purple sweet potato flour in crackers making, which aimed to improve their physical characteristics due to high fibre and protein content. The effect of margarine concentration (15, 20, and 25%) and defatted coconut flour concentration (0, 15, 30%) on hardness, fracturability, lightness (L), redness (a), yellowness (b), and moisture content were studied in a randomized factorial design experiment. Results showed that the concentration of margarine, the concentration of defatted coconut flour, and the interaction between the two factors had a significant effect (p<0.05) on hardness, fracturability, lightness, redness, and water content of crackers. Defatted coconut flour increased the hardness and the fracturability of crackers, but margarine concentration reduced both textural properties. Higher concentration of margarine and defatted coconut flour increased values of L and a, but did not affect the b value. There seemed to be a maximum concentration of defatted coconut flour and margarine the in cracker to maintain textural properties.