2023 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 65-72
Tempura coating that is fried with wheat flour batter should have crispy texture; however, the gluten present in wheat prevents the development of a favorable texture. Thus, we prepared tempura using barley flour, buckwheat flour, or Job's tears flour, which do not form gluten structure. Their quality and palatability were compared to that of normal rice and waxy rice, which are gluten-free grains, in addition to wheat flour. We focused on the changes over time of texture which was an issue with tempura. We hypothesized that the changes in the texture involved moisture absorption from the ingredients, and aimed to reveal the difference in the changes over time by using grain flours. Changes in crispiness and moisture content were different based on the grain flour. Wheat, normal rice, and buckwheat tempura coating absorbed moisture from ingredients and lose crispiness over time. Waxy rice and barley tempura absorbed ingredients moisture only in the tempura coating near ingredients, and there was no change in the crispiness of that surface. Alternatively, Job's tears tempura coating did not change crispiness and moisture content even after 30 min of frying. Therefore, it would be beneficial to use appropriate tempura coating material based on the occasion.
