Investigation of the effect of ultrasound technology on the tempering process of durum wheat variety

In people's daily diets, there are many foods produced from different wheats. Durum wheat (Triticum durum) is one of them. This wheat is a hard wheat variety and has its own milling criteria. In order to make it suitable for milling, a tempering process is carried out in 2 or 3 stages. The quality of the semolina obtained after milling depends on the proper tempering and milling processes. For this purpose, many studies have been conducted on different milling techniques and different tempering applications. In our study, the change in quality parameters of semolina obtained from durum wheat tempered by applying ultrasound (US) in water was compared with the classical tempering method. Physical, chemical and physicochemical analyzes were performed on semolina as a result of the classical tempering and US tempering processes. The results showed that, compared to the classical tempering process, the US tempering process caused statistically significant changes in semolina yield, granulation, color (L* and b*), moisture, ash protein, crude fiber, gluten and gluten index values. US reduced semolina yield and ash ratios. This result was also reflected positively on color values. L* values increased, and semolina obtained from wheat samples treated with ultrasound and rested for 24 hours (US24) had a brighter appearance. Water levels in semolina and wheat increased with US. Semolina quality parameter values of US24 have better results than those arrested for 8 hours. Semolina protein and gluten index values were higher in samples subjected to ultrasound. The semolina ratio in the granulation values between 112-212µ increased further with US. The study revealed important results that the 48-hour resting period applied in the classical tempering process of durum wheat can be reduced to shorter periods with the results of ultrasound application, which provides better water hydration and semolina quality.