Abstract

Sequential thermal priming, retrogradation, and fermentation were combined to transform unripe banana flour (UBF) into a resistant starch (RS) rich ingredient with reduced glycemic impact suitable for pasta manufacture. Three factors: Box- Behnken design (BBD) assessed thermal priming temperature (TPT) (70 – 90 °C), retrogradation temperature (RT) (12 – 38 °C), and fermentation time (FT) (2 – 12 h), with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strain (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Levilactobacillus brevis) as a categorical factor. Reduced cubic and strain specific quadratic models showed strong predictive performance (R2 ≥ 0.92) for RS, predicted glycemic index (PGI), retrogradation enthalpy (ΔHr) and breakdown ratio (BR). At the optimum (70 °C, 25 °C, 2 h), L. brevis favored nutritional gains, with 44.79% more RS and 8.76% lower PGI, whereas L. plantarum improved techno-functional stability, yielding 24.34% higher ΔHr and 18.06% lower BR. These findings demonstrate that combining thermal structuring and controlled fermentation provides a controllable process strategy for producing low-glycemic pasta flour from unripe banana. The defined unit operations and operating setpoints provide a scalable processing basis while helping to maintain the nutrition and techno-functionality balance required for pasta manufacture.

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