Investigation of the utilzation of wheat germ on the production of protein enriched tarhana production

In this study, the effect of wheat germ supplementation on the tarhana formulation was investigated by determining the physicochemical, functional, powder, and sensory properties. For this purpose, the wheat germ was added to tarhana formulation at five different replacement ratios (%100+%0 (control), %90+%10, %80+%20, %70+%30, and %50+%50 weight wheat flour+weight wheat germ). Replacement of wheat flour with wheat germ resulted in higher moisture content, L*, pH, ash, protein, cellulose, and fat contents and foaming capacity values and lower a*, starch content, water hydration and oil holding capacities, wettability time, Carr index, and Hausner ratio values (p<0.05). Results of the chemical analysis of the tarhana samples revealed that the ash, protein, and cellulose contents of tarhana can be significantly increased around 2.64-7.69%, 14.10-72.72%, and 14.91-80.12%, respectively depending on the replacement percentage (p<0.05). Highly acceptable tarhana sample by the panelists that closely resembled the control was produced from 90% wheat flour+10% wheat germ mixture. Keywords: tarhana; wheat germ; chemical composition; functional properties.