Development of an Edible Coating from Okra Mucilage to Preserve the Crispiness in Soft Dough Biscuits Upon Storage

Abstract

Baked food products are considered to be one of the most popular processed foods in the world. Among all the bakery products, biscuits are the most frequently consumed snack food item. There is a vast and diverse market for biscuits as a leader in ready-to-eat baked goods. Biscuits have long shelf life than other bakery products when stored under proper conditions. But immediately after exposure to the air by opening or damaging the package, biscuits absorb moisture from the air and reduce its crispiness of the biscuits. According to the market survey results, the highest number of respondents (53.7 %) suggested developing an edible coating for biscuits to prevent the loss of crispiness in biscuits upon storage. As well as 98.5 % of respondents prefer edible coatings developed using natural sources. Polysaccharide-based edible coatings maintain the physicochemical, microbiological and sensorial properties of the food. Therefore, okra mucilage was used as the main ingredient for edible coating preparation for biscuits. The coating was applied on biscuits with different coating methods, different baking stages and stored in different environmental conditions to identify the efficiency of the coating. According to the results, a coating applied before the baking stage displayed better moisture barrier properties than that of the coating applied after baking in controlled, semi-controlled, and normal atmospheric environmental conditions. It's responsible for the reduction of moisture absorption of biscuits upon storage.