Development and quality evaluation of nixtamalized corn tortilla chips enriched with banana and orange peel powders

Introduction

Corn (Zea mays L.), a cereal crop belonging to the Poaceae family, is one of the world's most extensively cultivated and consumed staple foods, with major production hubs in the USA, China, Brazil, and India. Despite its versatility in food, feed, and industrial applications, corn is nutritionally limited due to its poor protein quality and deficiencies in essential nutrients like niacin, lysine, and tryptophan. However, it remains a vital source of dietary fiber, antioxidants, and energy, especially in gluten-free diets. Corn kernels consist of the pericarp, endosperm, and germ, each contributing distinct nutritional properties. Among various types, dent corn is commonly used in nixtamalization-a traditional Mesoamerican alkaline cooking process that significantly enhances corn's nutritional value and functional properties. By cooking and steeping corn in limewater, nixtamalization increases calcium and bioavailable niacin, improves dough quality, and facilitates the production of masa, the foundational ingredient for tortillas and other maize-based foods. This ancient technique, used historically by the Aztecs, also modifies starch and protein structures, yielding improved textural and sensory qualities. Leveraging this process, the current study aims to develop and evaluate enriched tortilla chips by incorporating banana and orange peel powders, thereby enhancing nutritional value while promoting sustainable use of fruit by-products. Banana (Musa paradisiaca L.), a major fruit crop of the Musaceae family, is widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible fruits, with a global production of approximately 116 million tonnes in 2019. Bananas are consumed in various forms-raw, cooked, dried, or processed into flour and starch-with culinary types primarily being seedless. While the fruit itself is wellutilized, the peel, often discarded as waste, holds substantial nutritional and functional potential. Banana peels are rich in dietary fiber (20-30%), proteins (6-9%), carbohydrates, and essential minerals such as phosphorus, iron, calcium, and magnesium. Importantly, banana peels exhibit high antioxidant activity due to bioactive flavonoids like catechins and epicatechins, surpassing even the pulp in antioxidant capacity. Despite this, banana peels remain underutilized, frequently contributing to environmental waste. Recent innovations have demonstrated their applicability in functional foods and value-added products, such as banana peel jam and natural antioxidants. This research leverages banana peel powder as an enriching ingredient in tortilla chips, promoting sustainability through waste valorisation and enhancing the nutritional profile of staple snack foods. Orange peel (Citrus sinensis Lin) is a significant by-product generated during orange processing, with India producing around 25 lakh tonnes of oranges annually, mainly from states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, and Karnataka. The accumulation of orange peel waste during juice and other product manufacturing poses environmental challenges, making it essential to explore valuable applications for this resource. Rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds, orange peel contains dietary fiber, flavonoids such as hesperidin and naringin, essential oils like limonene, vitamins, and minerals. These components contribute to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and potential anticarcinogenic properties. Due to its high nutritive value, orange peel holds promise for use in pharmaceutical and value-added food products, offering both health benefits and sustainable waste management solutions. Masa flour is made by cooking corn flour in an alkaline solution, typically diluted calcium hydroxide, through a traditional process called nixtamalization, which enhances the nutritional value of corn by improving the bioavailability of nutrients like niacin and minerals while reducing antinutritional factors. Rich in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and high in dietary fiber, masa flour supports digestive health, regulates blood sugar, and is naturally gluten-free, making it suitable for those with gluten intolerance. Widely used in Latin American cuisine, masa is the key ingredient for staple foods such as tortillas, tamales, pupusas, and sopes, demonstrating both its cultural importance and versatility in savory and sweet dishes. Its nutritional benefits, combined with its adaptability, make masa flour a valuable food product with significant health and culinary applications.

Materials and Methods

In the present study titled "Development and quality evaluation of nixtamalized corn tortilla chips enriched with banana and orange peel powders", masa flour is rich in complex carbohydrates, calcium, dietary fiber, and certain B vitamins due to the nixtamalization process. Both banana and orange peel powders are excellent functional ingredients because of their fiber, antioxidant content, and bioactive compounds, which can improve the nutritional and functional quality of food products like tortilla chips. Proximate and nutritional analysis was carried out along with determining their physical properties. Experiments were conducted in College of Food Science and Technology, Rudrur, Nizamabad Dist.

Selection and procurement of raw materials

Raw materials used are corn kernels, banana peels, orange peels, sunflower oil, calcium carbonate and Packaging material (LDPE) are purchased from local market. Electronic weighing balance was used to determine the weight of all the ingredients. Whole maize was cooked in the lime solution i.e, CaCO 3 (100 °C for 1h), steeped at room temperature for 24 hours, nixtamalized corn, washing the nixtamalized corn under the running tap water, grinding the kernels, drying the grounded dough at 65 °C for 30 min, grinding the dried dough, sieving (250 µm), masa flour. Flow chart for preparation of powder formulation is depicted in the Fig. 1. To prepare the three different formulations, the masa flour was added in the quantities of 95, 85 and 75 g and maida added in quantities of 0, 10 and 20 g. salt was added in equal quantities in all the three formulations. Composition of 3 different formulations is given in the Table 1. The tortilla chip samples are formulated as C 1 , C 2 , C 3 with different proportion. To know the acceptability, the organoleptic evaluation was conducted for these 3 samples. Among all, the semi-trained panel selected the "C 1 ", which has good sensorial characteristics. The 'C 1 ' sample was selected as control for further studies. Preparation of orange peel powder: Oranges were peeled and the peels were cut into small pieces, the pieces were washed, drained and kept in tray drier, dried them for 8 hrs at 65 °C. After the dried peels were collected, grinded and it was sieved by using 250µm mesh. The fine powder is packed in air tight container. The enrichment of orange peel powder in tortilla chips given in the flowchart No.3.

Preparation of Tortilla Chips

Composition of 3 different formulations is given in the Table 3. Protein content (g) = Nitrogen content × 6.25 .... ( 2)

Fat content of the samples was measured using Soxhlet apparatus using petroleum ether and using the equation (3) (Hussain, 2023) [13] . Estimation of fibre was done by the method involving use of boiling sulphuric acid and NaOH using the equation (4) (Madhu, et. al., 2017) [40] .

100(A-B)

Crude Fiber Content (%) = ....

(4) C

Where, A = Weight of crucible with dry residue (g) B = Weight of crucible with ash (g) C = Weight of formulation (g) Carbohydrate content was estimated by difference method using the equation ( 5) (Menezes, et. al., 2004) The sensory evaluation of tortilla chips enriched with banana and orange peel powder were carried out by 10 semi trained panel members to know overall acceptability and for evaluation of final product. Judgements were made through rating products on a 9-point hedonic scale (Wichchukit and O'Mahony, 2015) with corresponding parameters ranging from 9 like extremely to 1 dislike extremely.

Results and Discussion

Control sample, banana peel powder tortilla chips and orange peel powder were prepared in three formulations each measuring 100 g. Proximate analysis of selected tortilla chips for moisture content, carbohydrates, protein content, crude fat, crude fibre and ash were determined and depicted in Fig 1 . It was observed from Fig. 1, the moisture content was highest in the control sample C1 (3.5%) due to greater starch gelatinization and water retention, while the lowest moisture content was recorded in the O1 sample (2.5%), likely due to the high fiber content and porosity of orange peel powder promoting faster moisture loss. The protein content was found to be lowest in the C1 sample (1.3%) since masa flour is primarily a carbohydrate source with low protein, whereas the B1 sample, incorporated with 15% banana peel powder, had the highest protein content (1.52%) due to the concentration effect from drying and the intrinsic protein content of banana peels. Fat content was lowest in the O1 sample (11.8%), supporting findings by Zaker et al.

(2016) [39] that orange peel powder, being high in dietary fiber, reduces fat absorption and can act as a fat replacer; the highest fat content was recorded in the C1 sample (24.4%).

Carbohydrate content was highest in the control C1 sample (28.14%) due to the starch-rich nature of masa flour, while B1 had the lowest (20.25%) since banana peels are lower in starch and richer in fiber and protein; the O1 sample had slightly higher carbohydrates (21.22%) than B1, attributed to the presence of natural sugars and pectin in orange peel. The incorporation of banana peel powder notably increased the crude fiber content in B1, enhancing its dietary value, and this sample also showed the highest ash content (0.66%), reflecting its richer mineral and organic salt content.

From the Fig 2 it was observed that the hardness, gumminess, fracturability and chewiness differ significantly among three samples the hardness values of O1 sample (506 g), B1 sample (695 g) and C1 sample (420 g). B1 sample likely has a firmer structure due to banana peel powder, which may increase fiber and solid content, resulting in greater resistance to deformation. Orange peel (O1) contributes similarly but slightly less, while the control (C1) has the least fiber, leading to the lowest hardness. The gumminess was highest for C1 sample (121 g) and lowest for B1 is (32 g). The fracturability is highest in B1 sample (845 g) lowest in C1 sample (420 g). The chewiness is highest in C1 sample (66 g*mm), lowest in O1 sample. B1 high fiber and solid content from banana peel enhances its brittleness and crispness, leading to high fracturability. O1 also shows enhanced fracturability due to the presence of citrus peel fiber, but less than B1. The control sample is softer and breaks with lower force. The values of hardness and chewiness influence the acceptance of tortilla chips made with banana peel powder and orange peel powder. It could be observed that the antioxidant activity of B1 sample has high value i.e, 65.2% among all the samples, due to their high content of phenolic compounds (flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanin) they help in neutralizing the free radicals & protect against oxidative stress. O1 sample has the (63.1%) due to the presence of flavonoids & other phytochemicals. Additionally, orange peel contains high amount of vitamin C, which is also an antioxidant. The concentration of phenolic compounds can be significantly higher in peels compared to the pulp (science direct.com). The C1 sample (45.3%) has lowest antioxidant activity, due to nixtamalization process (used to make masa) can reduce certain natural antioxidants during processing.

Conclusion

The present study reports the proximate composition, textural profile, antioxidant activity and sensorial characteristics of nixtamalized corn tortilla chips enriched with varied concentrations of banana peel powder and orange peel powder. The addition of banana peel powder and orange peel powder significantly increased the nutritional value of tortilla chips i.e, protein, fibre contents compared to control sample.

The enriched tortilla chips have also reported high in antioxidant activity. According to the values obtain from instrumental analysis and sensory evaluation, the tortilla chips with 15% banana peel powder & orange peel powder increases the functional properties of tortilla chips. The nixtamalization increased the shelf life of corn tortilla chips. Further experiment is required to analyse and validate the potential health effects & to explore the benefits of fruit peel powder to reduce the wastage & promote sustainable development.

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