Technological quality and chemical composition of puffed grains from einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. subsp. aestivum)

• Puffing induced drastic changes in key technological and nutritional traits.
• Carotenoid content decreased after puffing (−54%) but tocol content was stable.
• The characteristics of the commercial samples were species-related.

Puffed cereals are widely used in the preparation of breakfast products, snacks and ready-to-eat foods. Puffing leads to deep structural, chemical and nutritional modifications of the grains but the information available about the end-product quality is still scant. Aim of this research was to assess the effect of gun-puffing on several technological characteristics and chemical composition of einkorn and bread wheat kernels. A survey of some commercial puffed cereals was also performed.Bread wheat and einkorn kernels were treated in a lab gun-puffing system of a private food industry under two different processing conditions. The raw and puffed kernels were then assessed for technological (1000 kernel weight, expansion rate, test weight, water uptake, water absorption and solubility index, pasting properties, surface area, colour) and compositional (starch, protein, carotenoid and tocol content) traits. Puffing induced significant changes in most technological and chemical characteristics of einkorn and bread wheat kernels. A drastic loss of carotenoids (on average, −54%), but not of tocols, was observed. While bread wheat and einkorn differed for several traits, the two puffing treatments generally gave similar results. Most of the technological and compositional properties of commercially-available puffed cereals were species-related.