Chromatographic Analysis of Fatty Acids and Sugars in Traditional Pastry from Tras-Os-Montes
Artigo de Conferência
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resumo
The Tras-os-Montes region of Portugal is rich for its tasty and varied
gastronomy, namely past ry and deserts. Among them, the "economicos"
(economicals), are small cakes made from wheat flower, olive oil, eggs,
margarine, sugar and firewater. These famous cakes have never been
adequately studied before, and our research group is about to start
investigating this traditional food f rom this region of Portugal and incorporating
bioactive and natural additives that will reduce the necessity of chemical ones,
valorizing these foodstuffs. The first tentative approach was characterizing
these "economicals" in terms of nutritional value and their profile in sugars and
fatty acids immediately after manufacturing, at the end of the validity date of 2
days, and 3 days after expiring. The nutritional value was determined following
AOAC procedures [1]. Soluble sugars were analyzed by High Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC) coupled to a Refraction Index (RI) detector. The fatty
acids were analyzed by Gas Chromatography through a Flame Ionization
Detector (FID) [2]. In terms of nutritional value, no statistically relevant
differences were registered for the dates analyzed. The only detected sugar was
sucrose. As for the fatty acids profile, slight variations were detected, but with
no statistical importance. The main fatty acids found were linoleic and palmitic
acids. These results prove that the nutritional value of the "economicals" is not
lost within the validity date, postulating that it could be extended without any
kind of loss. Future studies will also be conducted in order to incorporate
natural preservatives to increase shelf-life and to maintain the profiles and
quality of nutrients along t he storage period.
