Nanosuspension of pinhão seed coat development for a new high-functional cereal bar.

Abstract

The seeds from Araucaria angustifolia—commonly named as pinhão—are important culturally, and viable regional food from Brazil. Although now considered an endangered species, methods to increase the awareness of this tree have been called upon attention. In light upon increasing such awareness, we utilized the seed coats of pinhão, which is considered a residue and discarded, in the development of cereal bars. Although the raw seed coats have a very high astringent flavor and impair the sensory taste; if considered as a nanoformulation, this strong astringent flavor is masked. Therefore, studies were also carried out with an experimental design to understand the effect of nanosuspension as a binding agent. In addition to physicochemical and nutritional characteristics performed, the results propose that nanosuspension of pinhão seed coats can be a potential ingredient for functional cereal bars due to high fiber content, proteins, and phenolic compounds.