A Formulação de Brigadeiro

ABSTRACT

The Brigadeiro is a typical Brazilian dessert and is prepared by cooking 3 ingredients: condensed milk, chocolate powder and butter. Naturally this dessert suffers from darkening reactions in its preparation, like Maillard reaction.

The Maillard's Reaction is a non-enzymatic darkening reaction in recipes which contains carbohydrate and protein, and can be enhanced by sodium bicarbonate addition.

Is it possible reduce chocolate powder amount, from Brigadeiro’s original recipe, using sodium bicarbonate, and achieve a similar product (or better one) with good acceptability?

The study evaluated 3 formulations with 1% sodium bicarbonate, changing only the amount of chocolate powder, and comparing the results of the samples with the traditional Brigadeiro (Original). For this evaluation, two metologies of Sensory Analysis were applied: Hedonic Test, for evaluation of the acceptability; and Descriptive Quantitative Analysis (DQA), for evaluation of sensory parametters results.

One proposed formulation was accepted by 83.3% of the tasters. This recipe presented slightly salty changes and darker coloring when compared to Original recipe, but were not rejection factors.

Therefore, the work validated the possibility of using the benefits of the Maillard Reaction, potentiated by the sodium bicarbonate addition, making possible a 50% reduction of powder chocolate. Futhermore the good acceptance by consumers, the new recipe has contributed to other improvements such as shelflife increase; cost reduction and calories/sugar content reduction of the product.

INTRODUCTION

The Brigadeiro is a typical Brazilian dessert, produced and marketed in throughout the states of the country, especially present at birthday parties. It is appreciated by consumers and obtained by cooking condensed milk, chocolate powder and butter. From a physicochemical point of view, it is a mixed dispersion, composed mainly of carbohydrates (sucrose and lactose) and dairy proteins. In the preparation of the brigadeiro, due to the presence of carbohydrates and proteins at high temperatures, one of the chemical reactions involved is the Maillard Reaction (MR) Maillard's Reaction is a non-enzymatic darkening reaction discovered in 1912 by Louis Camille Maillard during an attempt at peptide synthesis under physiological conditions. It is an object of great interest today, being related to chemical, sensory, nutritional and toxicological aspects. MR is represented by a complex cascade of reactions, which arise mainly during the heating and prolonged storage of food products, resulting in modifications in the quality of the food, favoring the formation of compounds responsible for the aroma, taste and color of heat-treated foods.

The factors that affect the Maillard Reaction are: temperature, pH, amines present, sugars present, moisture content and reaction time. The reaction occurs at high temperature during heating or at reduced temperature during prolonged storage of the food, the higher the temperature the faster the browning reaction, it also increases the carbon content. The pH of the reaction rises almost linearly in the pH range 3 to 8 and reaches the maximum browning in the alkaline range, between pH 9 to 10. The type of amines present is important in the formation of melanoidins, because this formation depends on the

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