Valorisation of mountain plant agrobiodiversity: “Copafam” bean flour as a promising new ingredient for baked food product

“Copafam” bean is an Italian landrace at risk of extinction due to mountain depopulation. Therefore, this local cultivar and the traditions associated may be lost, negatively impacting agrobiodiversity. The aim was to investigate the impact of the use of different varieties of beans on sensory properties and hedonic responses for baked products. Liking assessment was performed on a control biscuit sample with wheat flour and samples with 25% or 50% of borlotto, or cannellino or “copafam” flours. A sensory descriptive analysis was performed to obtain a product characterization and to define which attributes driven products acceptance. Behavioral variables (attention to food sustainability and food neophobia level), representing possible barriers to positive consumers responses to new products, were also evaluated. Results from 80 subjects revealed that all samples were considered acceptable except for sample with 50% of borlotto flour. The control sample obtained the highest liking score and was comparable to both biscuits containing 25% of “copafam” and borlotto flours. The sensory attributes mainly related to the positive hedonic responses were: sweet, mild odor-flavor, butter odor-flavor and crumbly texture. The least liked biscuit (50% borlotto) was characterized by the terms bitter, legumes and toasted odor-flavor. Interestingly, a cluster of consumers (n=49) liked all biscuits, whereas a second cluster (n=31) considered acceptable only the control sample and the biscuit with 25% of “copafam” flour. No significant differences were highlighted between the clusters regarding food neophobia and attention to food sustainability and these behavioral variables did not affected hedonic ratings. In conclusion, “Copafam” flour could be used in new food baked products to preserve and enhance mountain agrobiodiversity. However, in order to reach a positive consensus among different group of consumers, the substitution at 25% should be foster. This research was supported by “Montagne: Living Labs di innovazione per la transizione ecologica e digitale” and PSR “Fagio.Lo” projects