Effect of Different Amounts of Pistachio Powder and Paste on the Sensory, Physicochemical and Microbial Characteristics of Oily Cake

Pistachio cake is a product in which paste and powder of pistachios are used as its main ingredient. The use of paste and pistachio powder in the production of oily cake can improve the nutritional value and flavor of the product.

The attributes of the oily cake include moisture, pH, color, texture; microbial evaluation (colony count, mold, yeast, Enterobacteriaceae) and sensory evaluation (by 6-point Hedonic method) was evaluated.

There are significant differences in pH, moisture, color attributes (L*, a* and b*), stiffness, microbial evaluation and sensory evaluation in different treatments (P≤ 0.01). In all treatments, pH is decreased significantly compared to control (P≤ 0.05). Adding pistachio paste and powder in all quantities significantly increased the moisture content of cake (P≤ 0.05). Adding pistachio powder in all treatments caused texture hardness as compared with control (P≤ 0.05). For microbial evaluation, samples had less than 10 molds, yeast and enterobacteriacea in different treatments, indicating there was no contamination of the cake containing different amounts of pistachio powder and pistachio paste.

The cake containing 5% pistachio paste and 2.5% pistachio powder was the most favorable cake in terms of overall acceptability