Physical, thermal and functional properties of flour derived from Ubi Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta L.) tubers grown in Indonesia

Gembili ( Dioscorea esculenta L.) tuber is one of the important food sources in term of cultural, nutritional and economic perspectives for the people in the Africa, Caribbean islands, Asia, and Oceania regions. The tubers can be eaten after being boiled, roasted, fried or cooked. However, there is lack of information on the advanced utilizations of the tubers as raw material in the manufacture of modern foods. This study aims to characterize the physical, functional and thermal properties of Gembili flour, so that this information can be used as the basis in the development of novel foods. The microstructure, crystallinity, gelatinization temperature, swelling power and solubility of the flour were determined. The electron microscope observation revealed that Gembili flour consisted of smooth surface oval granules, which were light brown in color and having 23 µm average diameter. They are comprised of polygonals or some clusters of irregular fragments. Similar to most of tuber flours, Gembili flour also exhibited B-type crystallinity with approximately 31 ±3.7% crystallinity. The gelatinization temperature of Gembili flour was high and being comparable to that of cereal flour. The enthalpy of gelatinization of Gembili flour (9.52 ±0.80 J.g -1 ) was comparable to that of Dioscorea alata . Unfortunately, Gembili flour exhibited low swelling power (3.90 ±0.01 g.g -1 ). The Gembili flour granules were highly soluble in water (11.07 ±0.05%). Based on those reported properties, Gembili flour can be a suitable raw material for the manufacture of bakery, cookies, noodle and infant foods.