The effect of local production differences on physico - chemical and techno - functional properties of Artvin kavut flour

Abstract

Soups are quite significant components of Anatolian cuisine, which has a deep-rooted food culture. In Turkish food culture, soups are named according to their ingredients or the local region where they are cooked and featured by the local food or the region itself. Mainly used in soups and produced for many years in Artvin region, kavut flour is one of such ingredients. Since people believed that it treated the sick people with its high nutritive value, sent away the evil spirits and was the symbol of abundance, the ancient Turks made sure to have kavut flour at their homes. However, it has become one of those traditional foods which have sunk into oblivion for its limited use in Artvin region. This research aims to introduce the kavut flour whose production has been continued but consumption has been limited to the region as well as to analyse the impact of local production differences on the product’s physico-chemical and techno-functional properties. To this end, kavut flour obtained from 10 different villages in Artvin were analysed for its water solubility index (WSI) (2,16 - 4,16 g/g), water absorption index (WAI) (240,92 - 344,13 g/g), oil absorption index (2,19 - 2,69 g/g), bulk density (10 -14,16 kg/m3 ), compressed density (4,66 - 9,5 kg/m3 ), ash content (1,59 - 2,28 %), moisture (5,35 -9,02%), acidity (0,02- 0,11 %) and protein amount (8,88 - 12%). According to the results, it has been observed that kavut flour has acceptable functional properties and local production differences significantly affect these properties. It has been determined that the physico-chemical properties of all kavut flours obtained from different regions are quite high.