Characteristics of nut flour, manufacturing features. Nutritional value and vitamin and mineral complex in the composition. Benefits, restrictions on use. Culinary uses of walnut flour.
Walnut flour or meal is a food product that is made from dried or fried kernels of the fruits of the tree of the same name. The structure is dispersed, free-flowing, with the size of individual grains up to 0.04 mm; color - milky caramel, beige, yellowish, heterogeneous; taste - nutty, sweetish, with a slight bitterness; the smell is characteristic. It is made from the kernels of the fruit of the walnut tree, which grows in the European territory in zones with a warm climate in the wild and domesticated form.
How is walnut flour made?
Despite the fact that a valuable product is rarely found in stores, the production of nut flour is now almost completely automated. With full automation, the raw materials are fed through a conveyor under the splitting press, then transferred to a centrifuge, where the kernels are separated from the residual shell and fall on a vibrating metal mesh. The light pericarp is separated when blown, and the kernels fall into the bunker.
Complete cleansing has not yet been achieved, and manual labor is used to remove all shell particles. Therefore, many manufacturers, thinking about how to make nut flour, neglect automated splitting. The peeled kernels are immediately poured into a heat treatment apparatus. The highest quality dehydration takes place in a vacuum unit.
Partly fat-free grinding is more useful for the body. In this case, cake is used as a feedstock (after extracting the oil by cold pressing). No chemicals are introduced to increase the yield.
The prepared intermediate raw material is fed through a conveyor to a multistage roller mill. First, crushing is carried out, and then the final crushing, sieving and additional drying with a directed air flow. Powdered substance is packaged in paper bags. During pre-sale preparation, it is possible to use vacuum bags or sealed plastic packaging.
How to make walnut flour yourself
- Whole fruits are washed and dried in an oven at a temperature of 50-60 ° C with a slightly open door. Damp shells are difficult to peel.
- In order to crack nuts, use whatever is convenient. The easiest way is to use a nutcracker. If a hammer is used, then it is best to cover the fruits with a film so that the pieces of the shell do not scatter. Then they are carefully selected.
- Preheat the oven to 100-110 ° C.
- Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and dry the prepared raw materials for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It can be calcined in a frying pan, but in this case the color of the final product becomes dark, brownish.
- Grind in a coffee grinder, blender or food processor. To make homemade nut flour completely homogeneous, it must be sieved several times. Thanks to this process, it is saturated with oxygen and stops sticking together.
No need to cook for future use. Thorough dehydration, if there are no special chambers, is impossible, so independently crushed kernels will quickly turn rancid and lose their beneficial properties.
If nut flour is included in baking recipes, but it is not at hand, you can speed up the cooking. The kernels are peeled from the shell, briefly fried in a dry hot frying pan, after crushing, and then ground in a coffee grinder along with granulated sugar. Thanks to the sweet powder, the powder will not stick together.
The composition and calorie content of walnut flour
In the photo, walnut flour
The energy value of a home-made product is higher, since dehydration or pressing is not carried out.
Calorie content of walnut flour - 234 kcal per 100 g, of which
- Protein - 15 g;
- Fat - 18 g;
- Carbohydrates - 3 g;
- Dietary fiber - 6.1 g.
Allowable moisture content - 4% or up to 4 g per 100 g of product.
Vitamins per 100 g
- Vitamin A - 8 mcg;
- Beta Carotene - 0.05 mg;
- Vitamin B1, thiamine - 0.39 mg;
- Vitamin B2, riboflavin - 0.12 mg;
- Vitamin B5, pantothenic acid - 0.82 mg;
- Vitamin B6, pyridoxine - 0.8 mg;
- Vitamin B9, folate - 77 mcg;
- Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - 5.8 mg;
- Vitamin E, alpha tocopherol - 2.6 mg;
- Vitamin K, phylloquinone - 2.7 mcg;
- Vitamin PP - 4.8 mg;
- Niacin - 1.2 mg
Macronutrients per 100 g
- Potassium, K - 474 mg;
- Calcium, Ca - 89 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg - 120 mg;
- Sodium, Na - 7 mg;
- Sulfur, S - 100 mg;
- Phosphorus, P - 332 mg;
- Chlorine, Cl - 25 mg.
Microelements per 100 g
- Iron, Fe - 2 mg;
- Iodine, I - 3.1 mcg;
- Cobalt, Co - 7.3 μg;
- Manganese, Mn - 1.9 mg;
- Copper, Cu - 530 μg;
- Selenium, Se - 4.9 μg;
- Fluorine, F - 685 mcg;
- Zinc, Zn - 2.57 mg.
Nut flour contains a high amount of lecithin, a fat-like substance that can be called a building material for cells. It is responsible for lipid-carbohydrate metabolism, lowers cholesterol levels, and prolongs the life cycle of hepatocytes (liver cells). It is very important that this substance does not disintegrate after heat treatment and is contained not only in walnut flour, but also in the baked goods in which it is included. There are 12 types of irreplaceable acids in the composition of products with a predominance of arginine, and nonessential - 8 types, of which glutamic acid is the most.
