RESISTANT STARCH AND BIOACTIVE CONTENTS OF UNRIPE BANANA FLOUR AS INFLUENCED BY HARVESTING PERIODS AND ITS APPLICATION

Recently, various innovative products from unripe banana flour have been reported as it is high in resistant starch and other important compounds. The harvesting period of the unripe banana fruit is one of the key factors affecting the quality of the unripe banana flour in terms of resistant starch and bioactive compound content. The study aimed to investigate the effect of the harvesting stages of unripe banana fruit on Resistant Starch (RS) content, carotenoid content, antioxidant activity and the application of unripe banana flour to prepare high RS rice noodle. Four different harvesting stages of banana fruits of Musa sapientum Linn including 75, 90, 105 and 120 days after bloom, were processed for banana flours. The results indicated that the maturation stages affected RS, some bioactive contents, antioxidant activities. The highest RS content (48.88%) of banana flour was obtained from the 105 day banana fruits. The total phenolic and carotenoid contents were high in the banana flours harvested between 75 and 105 days. The unripe banana flour could be substituted for rice flour as high as 80% and contained RS content as high as 18.64% whereas the commercial rice noodle had 4.21% of RS content. Therefore, the preparation of unripe banana flour from banana fruit harvested at 105 days and applying it in the preparation of functional food is promising.