Physicochemical Properties, Phenolic Acids Profile, and Vitamin Content of Quinoa‐Enriched Biscuits

Quinoa (<i>Chenopodium quinoa</i> Willd.) is a pseudocereal of great nutritional, pharmacological, and antioxidant value. It has the highest nutritional value of any food, including all fractions of amino acids, and is used as a complete protein food, especially for vegetarians and vegans. This work assessed the effectiveness of using quinoa-flour fortified biscuits compared to wheat flour biscuits in terms of their physical appearance, chemical composition, antioxidants, phenolic acids, vitamins, microbial load, and sensory evaluation. Different types of treatment ratios of wheat and quinoa flour were considered: {0:100 (T₀), 90:10 (T₁), 80:20 (T₂), 70:30 (T₃), 60:40 (T₄), and 50:50 (T₅)}. The results indicated that the width and weight of the biscuits were significantly increased with increasing concentration of quinoa flour, while a significant decrease was observed in the biscuit diameter. Based on chemical composition values, quinoa fortified biscuits with the ratio (50:50) were acceptable as they contained higher protein content, fat content, fiber content, and ash content as compared to the control. Similarly, the content of minerals, total phenolics, total flavonoids, and vitamins increased as the concentration of quinoa flour increased in all treatments. Regarding the microbial count, quinoa fortified biscuits showed more resistance against bacterial and fungal colonization. Notably, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed amines, esters, alcohols, and phenols functional groups responsible for the nutritional and sensory attributes of the biscuits. Therefore, sensory evaluation established high consumer acceptability, especially for biscuits with the ratio (50:50). This research work proves that fortification with quinoa adds nutritional value and may be stored for a long time without effect on sensory properties.