Providing safe alternatives of rice cake in food service facilities for elderly

～Analysis of characteristics of various waxy-cereal flours～

Abstract

　The present study was conducted to produce a prototype of a safe dango ball (dumpling) by using the characteristics of various waxy-cereal flours for the purpose of providing meals for the elderly in food service facilities. Waxy rice, waxy foxtail millet, waxy barley, waxy proso millet, waxy wheat, and waxy Japanese barnyard millet were selected as the ingredients of the dango balls. Six kinds of dango balls were evaluated by mechanical measurement and color measurement. Furthermore, based on the results obtained by an objective evaluation, a sensory evaluation of the waxy rice and waxy wheat dango balls was also performed. The mechanical measurement showed that the waxy wheat dango ball had not only a very similar property value to that of the waxy rice dango ball. But also a significantly low adhesiveness. Therefore, the waxy wheat dango ball was considered to have highly safe mechanical characteristics. On the other hand, the sensory evaluation showed that the waxy wheat dango ball was easier to bite off and swallow and adhered less to teeth than the waxy rice dango ball. The present findings suggested that the waxy wheat dango may be a substitute for rice cakes and demonstrated to eaters of meals provided in food service facilities for elderly.