NUTRITIONAL AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF CHICKEN NUGGETS INCORPORATED WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF FROZEN WHITE CAULIFLOWER

In the current study chicken nuggets were formulated with 5, 10, 15 and 20 % of frozen white cauliflower as fat replacer instead of chicken skin.  Phenolics, total flavonoids and DPPH antioxidant activity of cauliflower were determined .The proximate composition, physicochemical characteristics and sensory properties of formulated chicken nuggets were evaluated. Phenolics content, total flavonoids of cauliflower extract were 6.76 and 1.65 mg/g ,respectively . The DPPH free radicals scavenging activity of cauliflower extract was 54.9%.  Chicken nuggets formulated with various levels of cauliflower had higher ash, fiber and carbohydrates contents   but their fat and energy contents were lower, compared to control nuggets.   No significant (P > 0.05) variations in pH values among the control samples and those samples incorporated with different levels of frozen white cauliflower. The highest values (95.60, 96.40 and 96.64 %) of cooking yield were recorded for nugget samples incorporated with 10, 15 and 20 % of cauliflower, respectively. The lightness values of chicken nuggets significantly decreased with decreasing chicken skin content. Nuggets samples formulated with 20% cauliflower as fat replacer had significantly the highest value of redness (a* value). No significant differences (P > 0.05)  in b* value (yellowness) were found among formulated chicken nugget samples. No significant variations (P > 0.05) were recorded in the overall acceptability scores among chicken nugget batches. The incorporation of frozen cauliflower as fat replacer agent up to 20 % had positive effects on the acceptability and overall quality of chicken nuggets.