FUN FOOD FACT FROM JOE for your day. Gluten, fumaric acid and tortillas: Hand made tortilla is a simple food made from wheat flour, water, shortening and salt. Wheat flour has two gluten proteins that include large numbers of cysteine (sulfhydryl containing) amino acids. Once processed the gluten proteins link together providing an elastic, chewy texture to the tortilla. Unfortunately machine processing of tortillas create excess links between these proteins resulting in a rubbery tasting tortilla. A simple acid with a carboxylic acid functional group called fumaric acid often used to overcome this problem. Fumaric acid is naturally made in tissues of plant and animals. The acid acts as a reducing agent and decreases the pH level of the flour dough, defeating the disulfide bonds of the gluten. This results in a softer more machinable tortilla dough. Fumaric acid also acts as an antimicrobial agent and does not collect water from the atmosphere as well as other compounds increasing the shelf life of the food from a few days to over two months.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:37:35 +0000
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