PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF DIETARY FIBER GELS PRODUCED FROM SOME CEREAL WASTES

Dietary fiber gels for calorie reduced foods were prepared from some cereal wastes and their physicochemical properties were investigated. A 51.43, 50.56, 36.64 and 23.08 g of dietary fiber gel was produced from 100 g of rice straw, corn cobs, barely hulls and corn bran, respectively. Corn cobs and rice straw contained high levels of crude fiber (39.64 and 37.58 %, respectively) and low level of fat (0.94 and 0.42%, respectively). Some increase in total dietary fiber, insoluble dietary fiber, cellulose and hemicellulose and on the opposite side decrease in soluble dietary fiber and lignin were observed as a result of preparing fiber gels from different tested cereal wastes .Insoluble dietary fiber of gels obtained from corn bran, rice straw, corn cobs and barely hulls were 81.23, 78.84, 86.33 and 73.24%, respectively. Different fiber gels had higher water holding and oil absorption capacity values than the corresponding cereal wastes. Scanning electron microscope was also used to examine the morphological alteration of different cereal wastes and their fiber gels.