Grain amaranth is normally consumed whole. The effect of milling on the chemical and nutritional composition, stability to oxidation and color of the flours of the Brazilian grain amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus) has been assessed. Grains of the cv Japônica were pre-conditioned to moistures from 9.2 to 13.7% and fractionated in a cereal mill. Increasing the moisture resulted in a pronounced decrease of flour yield from 39 to 14%. The refined flour (break and reduction fractions combined) of the 9.2% moisture grain showed a total protein content of 13.9%, against the 16.2% of the whole flour, whereas the total lipid content fell from 6.78 to 6.11% with no detectable change in oxidative stability after refining. The fiber content was reduced slightly, from 4.6 to 3.8% for the highest and the lowest moisture contents, respectively, while the lighter color attribute of the flour increased with processing. It is concluded that in spite of the better appearance and high protein content of the refined flour, milling of grain amaranth will result in low yields and that refining will not remove any substantial amounts of oil that would guarantee higher oxidation stability to the flour.
pseudo cereal; refined flour; essential amino acids; fiber; nutritive value
