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Effect of L-Cysteine on the Rheological Properties of Wheat Flour

¹Department of Food Science, Center for Advanced Food Technology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520. ²Current address: Food Science and Technology Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of The West Indies, St. Austine, Trinidad. Phone: 868/662-2002. ³Corresponding author. E-mail: ianmar5757@hotmail.com Fax: 868/662-4414.

Extrudate expansion of cereal-based products is largely dependent on the molecular interactions and structural transformations that proteins undergo during extrusion processing. Such changes strongly influence the characteristic rheological properties of the melt. It is possible to modify rheological properties of wheat flour during extrusion processing, in particular shear viscosity, with cysteine. The objective of this work was to further develop an understanding of the molecular interactions and structural transformations of wheat flour from dynamic oscillatory rheological measurements. Temperature and frequency sweeps were conducted in the linear viscoelastic range of the material. Changes in the storage modulus (G′), the loss modulus (G″) and the loss tangent (tan δ) of 25% moisture wheat flour disks as a function of cysteine concentration (0–0.75%) were monitored. Molecular weight between cross-links (M_c) and the number of cross-links (N_c) per glutenin molecule were determined from frequency sweep data. Increasing cysteine concentration broke cross-links by decreasing G′ maximum and increasing tan δ values. Molecular weight between cross-links increased and the number of cross-links decreased. G′ values from temperature sweeps showed a similar trend. This information leads to a better understanding of the viscoelastic behavior of wheat flour doughs during extrusion cooking and elucidation of protein-protein reaction mechanisms and other interactions in extruded cereal-based snack foods.