EVALUATION OF THE COOKING QUALITY OF SPAGHETTI

The aim of the present work was to determine the cooking quality of spaghetti. Ten types of commercial spaghetti samples were used for investigations. As the cooking time increased, the values of both parameters examined (shear force and shear work) were observed to decrease. Their highest values were obtained for pastas produced from semolina. The storage of pasta after cooking also caused a decrease in these parameters (the maximum shear force decreased by about 50% in all samples, and the shear work by 72 to 97%, depending on the sample). The results showed the positive correlation between the consistency of pasta described on the basis of sensory evaluation and the values of parameters obtained during shear test of pasta. The results showed that the parameters described on the basis of the shear test of spaghetti well describe the pasta cooking quality in terms of cooking time and time of pasta storage after cooking. This parameters could be useful in the evaluation of the cooking quality of spaghetti and make the quality evaluation more objective.