Functional characteristics and protein quality of selected commercially obtained brown and yellow canary seed flours and prepared isolates. Issue 4 (5th May 2020) - Moura, Marília A. F.
Abstract: Background and Objectives: Canary seed is a true cereal crop and classified as a "novel" food for human consumption. To explore potential food applications, the current study focused on evaluating the functional and nutritional properties of flours and protein isolates from glabrous (yellow and brown) canary seed. Findings: The proximate composition, total starch and total amylose contents of the flours from both brown and yellow seeds were not significantly different. Both flours shared similar pasting properties and started developing viscosity at ~90°C. All the protein isolates showed >75% purity although were obtained in low yield (<5%). Most of the functional properties of the canary seed flour were significantly lower than those of the protein isolates. Similarly, lower digestibility of the flours (<32% in vitro protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid scores—PDCAAS) was evident in comparison with the isolates (>50% in vitro PDCAAS). Conclusions: There are no significant differences between the yellow and brown canary seed proteins in terms of their composition, and functional and nutritional properties. However, marked differences were observed between the flours and protein isolates. The selection of yellow seed over the brown seed could be based on the color attributes of the flour or isolates for the intended product application. Significance and novelty: This study provides insight on the protein quality, that is, functional and nutritional properties, of flour and protein isolates from yellow and brown canary seed. The findings provide prospects of selecting yellow seeds versus brown seeds for product applications based on their protein quality.