Effects of Konjac Mannan Addition on the Properties of Pound Cakes

抄録

Konjac mannan absorbs large amounts of water and forms gels that can be used in various processed foods. Moreover, it is a very interesting saccharide in that it is not decomposed by enzymes in the human body. However, few foods contain Konjac mannan. In this study, compared with control pound cakes, which contain soft wheat flour, egg, butter and sugar in a ratio of 1:1:0.75:0.75, the use of Konjac mannan gel in place of butter was examined. With 50% Konjac mannan substituted for butter (batter A), adequate physical properties and taste were obtained by increasing the amount of B.P. added to 3-4% of the weight of the wheat flour. Compared with the 28.9% water content of the control batter, the water content of batter A was 39.0%. Therefore every batter in this study was controlled to have a water content of 39.0%. Batter B consisted of 25% Konjac mannan and water, batter C contained equal amounts of Konjac mannan and egg white, and batter D only contained egg white; all yielded preferable pound cakes by increasing the amount of B.P. added to 3-4% of the weight of the wheat flour. The degrees of caloric intake suppression were about 21, 17, 14 and 14% for A, B, C and D, respectively.