The Effect of Butterfly Blue Pea (Clitoria ternatea) and Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) on the Physicochemical Properties of Cereal Bars with Different Baking Treatments

Abstract

The cereal bars market is expected to grow annually between 2024 and 2028. Various food industries experimented with many innovations and variations to improve cereal bars. In this study, two edible flowers were used as natural antioxidants as a substitute for synthetic antioxidants while increasing the nutrition values simultaneously. This study is included in one of three studies that incorporated two dried edible flowers (Butterfly Pea (BP) and Lavender (LA)) to fortify the cereal bar, where this study focused more on physicochemical properties. These two flowers were used for this study due to their blue color indicating a high anthocyanin concentration. Anthocyanin is one of the flavonoid compounds that are common in nature and has high antioxidant activity. Four formulations were used for edible flower addition: Control (0%), BP (1.75% of BP), LA (1.75% of LA), and Mix (0.87% of BP : 0.87% of LA). In addition, two different baking treatments (100°C for 120 minutes (T1) and 140°C for 35 minutes (T2)) were used in this study. The findings indicated that adding BP to cereal bars with T2 resulted in the darkest color, highest moisture content, and water activity. While the BP sample with T1 achieved the highest hardness value. The lowest fracturability distance was achieved by Mix 140°C. Regarding lipid peroxide value, samples baked with T1 were proven to have a longer shelf-life compared to T2. In addition, the edible flowers successfully slow lipid oxidation by slowing down the hydroperoxide formation in cereal bars.