Evaluation of antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effect of Malva extract (Malva sylvestris L.) in traditional Lahijan cookies (based on wheat-millet flour)

Millet is a rich source of essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Also, Malva extract has phenolic compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The purpose of the first part of this study was to investigate the effect of replacing part of wheat flour (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60%) with millet flour in cookies. In this section, technological characteristics (moisture, specific volume, porosity and texture) were evaluated. In the second part, in order to produce functional cookies, antioxidant and microbial activity and sensory properties of the selected sample in the first part were affected by 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm of Malva extract. The results showed that the sample containing 15% of millet flour was the best cookie of the first part with the highest specific volume (1.73 cm3 / g), porosity (22.1%) and moisture (10.15%) and favorable texture (3.28 N) during two months of storage. The results of the second part showed the total phenol content increased from 1.6 to 53.5 mg / g by increasing Malva extract in the cookie formulation. However, the antioxidant activity of the sample containing 500 ppm of Malva extract increased from 12.1% to 61.2% compared to the control. The samples containing more than 200 ppm of Malva extract didn’t have mold and yeast during two months of storage. Also, the samples containing 100 to 300 ppm Malva extract obtained the highest color, texture, odor and taste score in the sensory evaluation. Therefore, samples containing 85% wheat flour, 15% millet flour and 300 ppm of Malva extract can be offered to the bakery industry as a functional cookie.