The Effect of Tamarind Seed Gum on the Qualities of Gluten-Free Cakes
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper shows interesting results that can be useful in the design of gluten-free bread, however intensive reestructuration needs to be done regarding presentation of results.
Comments:
- Analyses carried out must be grouped by type (chemical, sensorial, rheological, texture...) and named the same in abstract, material and methods and results, otherwise readers could be lost.
- "(A)pproximate chemical composition" must be changed by "chemical composition". "Approximate" does not sound scientific. Was total fat measured or fatty acids? Since it appears different in abstract and results.
- Table 1 caption must be more detailed.
- 2.4.: how was the percentage of mold calculated? Specify more.
- Figures: "a-c indicate significant differences" must be changed by something like "different letters indicate..." as appears in tables.
- In 3.1. "Viscosity and specific volume" also deals with density and chemical composition. Please, adjust title to contents.
- In 3.2. "Water and moisture" also deals with phenolics. Please, adjust title to contents.
- Some measurements such as water activity are measured over time but this is not indicated in M&M.
- Figure 4: change "appearance" for "bread appearance" or simply "bread".
- There are a lot of figures, maybe figure 7 can be removed, for example, since no significant results appear.
- Lines 197-198: why paler color indicates more intense Maillard reaction? Shouldn´t be the other way around? In this reaction coloured compounds are formed...
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
The authors are extremely grateful to anonymous referee involved for providing his/her excellent comments and valuable advice in this paper. We have revised the paper based on the referee’s comments. We have pleasure in requesting the referee to review this paper. Thank you. Your prompt attention to this paper will be much appreciated.
Point 1:
This paper shows interesting results that can be useful in the design of gluten-free bread, however intensive restructuration needs to be done regarding presentation of results.
Comments:
Analyses carried out must be grouped by type (chemical, sensorial, rheological, texture...) and named the same in abstract, material and methods and results, otherwise readers could be lost.
Response 1:
We have rewritten and restructurated our article carefully as red marked texts in the revised manuscript. We have grouped the analyses by batter characteristics, texture profile analysis, color, proximate composition, water activity, total phenolics content, shelf life, and a sensory evaluation of the gluten-free cake with 0.4% tamarind seed gum were compared to a cake made with wheat flour and rice flour. We are so sorry for the mistakes. Thanks for the suggestions and we appreciate you giving us the second chance. (Please see the abstract of revised manuscript).
Point 2:
"(A)pproximate chemical composition" must be changed by "chemical composition". "Approximate" does not sound scientific. Was total fat measured or fatty acids? Since it appears different in abstract and results.
Response 2:
Thank you for pointing out the mistake and the comments. We have revised the “approximate chemical composition” to “proximate chemical composition” and deleted fatty acids in abstract and results. Both total fat and fatty acids were measured. There was no significant in fatty acids between groups, therefore, the data were not shown in this paper. (Please see the section 2.6 of revised manuscript)
Point 3:
Table 1 caption must be more detailed.
Response 3:
The caption of Table 1 has been revised to “Table 1 Formulation of cake and gluten-free cake.”
Point 4:
2.4.: how was the percentage of mold calculated? Specify more.
Response 4:
During shelf-life test, the percentage of mold spots on the percentage of surface area of crumb, was evaluated every day.
Point 5:
Figures: "a-c indicate significant differences" must be changed by something like "different letters indicate..." as appears in tables.
Response 5:
The note of Figures 1, 3, 4, and 5 was revised as “a-c Different letters indicate significant difference between different samples”. (Please see the Figures of revised manuscript as red colored text).
Point 6:
In 3.1. "Viscosity and specific volume" also deals with density and chemical composition. Please, adjust title to contents.
Response 6:
The section 3.1 has been revised to “Measurement of Cake Batter and Batter Viscosity”. The chemical composition of cake has been moved to section 3.3 Proximate Composition of Gluten-free Cake.
Point 7:
In 3.2. "Water and moisture" also deals with phenolics. Please, adjust title to contents.
Response 7:
The total phenolics content has been adjusted to section 3.6 “Total Phenolics Content of Cake.” Please give us suggestion and hope this revised description could have a great improvement.
Point 8:
Some measurements such as water activity are measured over time but this is not indicated in M&M.
Response 8:
The sentence “The water activity of cake crust and crumb was measured before storage and thereafter at 2, 4 and 6 d at room temperature (25℃).” was added to the section 2.7 Water Activity. Thanks for the suggestions and we appreciate you for all the great comments.
Point 9:
Figure 4: change "appearance" for "bread appearance" or simply "bread".
Response 9:
The caption of figure 4 has been revised to Fig. 2 Appearance of cake and gluten-free cake. Please see the figure 2 of revised manuscript in red marked caption.
Point 10:
There are a lot of figures, maybe figure 7 can be removed, for example, since no significant results appear.
Response 10:
The figure 7 of total phenolics content of cake and gluetn-free cake was deleted. The information of total phenolics content of cake was discussed in section 3.6. We sincerely appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Point 11:
Lines 197-198: why paler color indicates more intense Maillard reaction? Shouldn´t be the other way around? In this reaction coloured compounds are formed...
Response 11:
The paragraph was revised to “The crumb and crust color parameters L*, a*, b*, ΔE and whiteness index are represented in Table 3. In this reaction colored compounds are formed when 0.4% tamarind seed gum was added, it was affected more by the Maillard reaction (Table 3). Addition of tamarind seed gum in 0.4% level led to a fall (p < 0.05) in the lightness (L* value) and yellowness (b* value) of crumb in comparing to the cake made with 100% of rice flour (Table 3). The crumb color of ΔE between cake made with 100% wheat flour and gluten-free cake with 0.4% tamarind seed gum addition was less than three. Therefore, it is not easy to tell the difference between these two cakes. Addition of 0.4% tamarind seed gum significantly increased the whiteness index of gluten-free cake in comparing to the cake made of 100% rice flour. However, no significant difference was found in the crust whiteness index between cakes (Table 3).” Thanks for the valuable comments again. (Please see the Results and Discussion of the revised manuscript in lines 176-185 at page 9). We can feel the referee spent so much time reading our manuscript very carefully. Please give us suggestion and hope this revised description could have a great improvement.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours truly,
Wen-Chieh Sung, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Food Science
National Taiwan Ocean University
Reviewer 2 Report
The article concerns the effect of tamarind seed gum on quality of gluten free cakes. There is still little data in the literature regarding the use of tamarind seed as hydrocolloid for production of bakery products. Moreover gluten free products are still of great interest to consumers not only because of celiac disease, but still popular lifestyle trend of gluten restrictive diet. Therefore submitted manuscript is valuable contribution to the field. The manuscript incorporates well designed experiment, however lacking in some parts in depth analysis of the vast amount of presented data. Therefore authors should extend the discussion of the data especially in relation why tamarind paste has led or not to changes in properties of investigated cakes (in places where it was not previously done). Moreover the manuscript has several language errors that must be corrected prior the publication. Detailed comments are listed below:
Line 16 delete „analysis of” (just texture profile analysis)
Line 20-21 please state why
Line 33 delete gums, hydrocolloids is broader term
Line 38-39 rheology modifier and emulsifier (singular)
Line 39-41 please rephrase
Line 57 please use Preparation
Line 72 Batter is non-Newtonian fluid please use term apparent viscosity, the proper unit is Pa∙s
Line 77 time or shelf-life test
Line 80 separate description of these two methods and provide conditions for color measurements i.e. illuminant.
Line 88 Stable Micro Systems (separate word)
Line 105 and 106 Proximate
Line 129 at which concentration?
Line 131 batter viscosity cannot incorporate air (please rephrase)
Line 133-134 The study does incorporate measurements with simple viscometer, please do not make statements regarding rheology. Moreover, no significant relation between viscosity and concentration can be observed, what additionally undermines that statement.
Line 138-139 The differences were not statistically significant.
Figures 1-3 – these data could be presented in one figure divided into A, B and C, limiting the use of long explanatory notes.
Line 154-155 These changes were minor when considering mold growth. This is rather the effect of tamarind seed itself as stated in manuscript later on.
Line 181 apparent to what?
Table 4 – Please double check your L values (they are very low for quite “bright” product as cake). Moreover please extend the discussion of these results, its very scarce. Strongly consider calculating ∆E (absolute color difference) and possibly Whiteness index. Both of these equations are described in Lewandowicz, J.; Le Thanh-Blicharz J. Quality of reduced fat mayonnaise prepared with native waxy starches. Proceedings of 14th International Conference on Polysaccharides-Glycoscience 2018, 262-265. Published online on Research Gate.
Line 205-207 This statement is in contrast to data in Table 4 as the cakes with addition of tamarind seed gum were darker (lower L values).
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
The authors are extremely grateful to anonymous referee involved for providing his/her excellent comments and valuable advice in this paper. We have revised the paper based on the referee’s comments. We have pleasure in requesting the referee to review this paper. Thank you. Your prompt attention to this paper will be much appreciated.
Reviewer #2’s comments
The article concerns the effect of tamarind seed gum on quality of gluten free cakes. There is still little data in the literature regarding the use of tamarind seed as hydrocolloid for production of bakery products. Moreover gluten free products are still of great interest to consumers not only because of celiac disease, but still popular lifestyle trend of gluten restrictive diet. Therefore submitted manuscript is valuable contribution to the field. The manuscript incorporates well designed experiment, however lacking in some parts in depth analysis of the vast amount of presented data. Therefore authors should extend the discussion of the data especially in relation why tamarind paste has led or not to changes in properties of investigated cakes (in places where it was not previously done). Moreover the manuscript has several language errors that must be corrected prior the publication. Detailed comments are listed below:
Point 1:
Line 16 delete „analysis of” (just texture profile analysis)
Response 1:
We have revised the phrase “analysis of texture profile analysis” to “texture profile analysis in abstract section as red marked texts in the revised manuscript. Thanks for the suggestions. (Please see the abstract of revised manuscript).
Point 2:
Line 20-21 please state why
Response 2:
Thank you for pointing out the comments. We have added the “Incorporation of 0.4% tamarind seed gum is recommended for gluten-free baked products in more desirable sensory scores and longer shelf life.” to the end of abstract in this paper. (Please see the last sentence of revised manuscript)
Point 3:
Line 33 delete gums, hydrocolloids is broader term
Response 3:
The sentence has been revised to “However, various hydrocolloids, such as agarose, hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose, pectin, guar, locust bean and xanthan gum, can provide the same viscoelastic characteristics found in the gluten network to produce gluten-free baked goods [4].” (Please see the revised manuscript in line 33.)
Point 4:
Line 38-39 rheology modifier and emulsifier (singular)
Response 4:
The sentence was revised to “It provides applications as fiber, rheology modifier and emulsifier [5].” Thanks for pointing out the mistake. (Please see the Introduction section of revised manuscript in lines 40-41).
Point 5:
Line 39-41 please rephrase
Response 5:
The sentences were rephrased to “The molecular weight of tamarind seed gum is in the range of 720-880 kDa [7]. When dissolved in water, it can form a viscous solution such as gelling and be used as a stabilizing and thickening agent in the food and pharmaceutical industries [8].” (Please see the Introduction section in lines 38-40 of revised manuscript as red colored text).
Point 6:
Line 57 please use Preparation
Response 6:
The title of section 2.3 has been revised to “Cake Preparation”. Thanks for the suggestion.
Point 7:
Line 72 Batter is non-Newtonian fluid please use term apparent viscosity, the proper unit is Pa∙s
Response 7:
The last sentence of section 2.3 has been revised to “After the start of the experiment, three measurements for apparent viscosity (Pa．s) were recorded for each formulation in a 50 ml beaker.”
Point 8:
Line 77 time or shelf-life test
Response 8:
The sentence “During shelf-life test, the percentage of mold spots on the surface area of crumb, was evaluated every day.” was revised and adjusted to the section 2.10 Test for the Shelf-life of the Cake. Thanks for the suggestions and we appreciate you for all the great comments.
Point 9:
Line 80 separate description of these two methods and provide conditions for color measurements i.e. illuminant.
Response 9:
The title of section 2.5 has been revised to “Color Measurement. And the description was revised to “Color was measured CIE L* value (lightness), a* value (redness/greenness) and b* value (yellowness/blueness) using a color spectrophotometer (TC-1800MK-II, Tokyo Denshoku, Japan) as per cruz-Romero et al. [12]. Absolute color difference ( E) and whiteness index (WI) were calculated following the formula described by Lewandowicz and Le Thanh-Blicharz [13].” Please see the figure 2 of revised manuscript.
Point 10:
Line 88 Stable Micro Systems (separate word)
Response 10:
The phrase was corrected in line 77 section 2.4. We sincerely appreciate your comments and sorry for the mistake.
Point 11:
Line 105 and 106 Proximate
Response 11:
The title and word “approximate” in section 2.6 was revised to “proximate” Thanks for the valuable comments again. (Please see the Materials and Methods of the revised manuscript in lines 90-91 at page 3).
Point 12:
Line 129 at which concentration?
Response 12:
The sentence was revised to “Although the viscosity increased proportionally with the addition of 0.2%-0.8% tamarind seed gum (Figure 1B), the batter volume of gluten-free cake batter reached the maximal value at 0.4%-0.8% tamarind seed gum, which was similar to the batter volume of cake made with wheat flour (Figure 1C).” in lines 135-138.
Point 13:
Line 131 batter viscosity cannot incorporate air (please rephrase)
Response 13:
The sentence was revised to “This indicated that the higher batter viscosity from the addition of 0.2%-0.4% of tamarind seed gum could thicken the batter during the mixing of the ingredients, thereby improving the volume of the batter to a level comparable to that of cakes made with wheat flour.” in lines 138-140.
Point 14:
Line 133-134 The study does incorporate measurements with simple viscometer, please do not make statements regarding rheology. Moreover, no significant relation between viscosity and concentration can be observed, what additionally undermines that statement.
Response 14:
The sentence was revised to “The tamarind seed gum could be used as a thickening agent instead of gluten in the gluten free cake.” In lines 140-141.
Point 15:
Line 138-139 The differences were not statistically significant.
Response 15:
The sentence was revised to “Of the different percentages (0.2%–0.8%) of tamarind seed gum used in the study, the high batter volume and low batter density gluten-free cake was obtained by the addition of 0.4%-0.8%.” by statistic analysis in lines 145-147. Thanks for the suggestions and we appreciate you for all the great comments.
Point 16:
Figures 1-3 – these data could be presented in one figure divided into A, B and C, limiting the use of long explanatory notes.
Response 16:
Figures 1-3 have been revised to Figure 1 A, B and C to limit the use of explanatory notes. We sincerely appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Point 17:
Line 154-155 These changes were minor when considering mold growth. This is rather the effect of tamarind seed itself as stated in manuscript later on.
Response 17:
The sentences were revised to “Tamarind seed gum changed the water activity and moisture content (Figures 4 & 5) of the cake, extending the shelf life of the cake (Table 3). It might be due to the antifungal characteristics of tamarind seed [21, 23]. Water activity of cake crumb remained higher than 0.9 during 6 days storage at room temperature (Figure 4A).” in lines 180-182.
Point 18:
Line 181 apparent to what?
Response 18:
The sentence was revised to “Firmness in the cakes did not increase significantly except in the gluten-free cake made with rice flour after 6 d of storage (Figure 3A), although sugar, egg and margarine bind the ingredients to form a barrier preventing moisture migration during storage.” in lines 155-157.
Point 19:
Table 4 – Please double check your L values (they are very low for quite “bright” product as cake). Moreover please extend the discussion of these results, its very scarce. Strongly consider calculating ∆E (absolute color difference) and possibly Whiteness index. Both of these equations are described in Lewandowicz, J.; Le Thanh-Blicharz J. Quality of reduced fat mayonnaise prepared with native waxy starches. Proceedings of 14th International Conference on Polysaccharides-Glycoscience 2018, 262-265. Published online on Research Gate.
Response 19:
We are sorry for the mistakes. Thanks for the valuable comments again. We revised and added the explanation of Table 3 to” In this reaction colored compounds are formed when 0.4% tamarind seed gum was added, it was affected more by the Maillard reaction (Table 3).” in lines 175-177. And we cited the reference of Lewandowicz and Le Thanh-Blicharz at section 2.5 Color Measurement.
Point 20:
Line 205-207 This statement is in contrast to data in Table 3 as the cakes with addition of tamarind seed gum were darker (lower L values).
Response 20:
The table 3 and its discussion were revised as lines 176-185 in the Results and Discussion section at page 9. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours truly,
Wen-Chieh Sung, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Food Science
National Taiwan Ocean University
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for thorough correction of your manuscript and detailed review response. The manuscript is almost ready for publication as is. However, please consider following suggestions:
Line 20 gluten-free baked products as it results in
Line 39 delete “such as gelling and be used” and replace with …that serves as a stabilizing agent…
Line 85 in CIE L*a*b* color space using
Line 87 lacking ∆ before E
Line 146 Change to plural (highest, lowest, cakes and were)
Line 155 Firmness of the cakes
Line 176 are presented in Table 3
Line 177 This sentence in unclear, needs rephrasing
Line 179 compared to
Line 180 The crumb color difference (∆E)
Line 183 cake in comparison to
Line 187 I’m suggesting “during storage”
Line 237 Gluten-free cakes with addition of 0.4% tamarind seed gum can be perceived as good products in terms of
Author Response
March 5th, 2020
Manuscript ID: Processes-732771
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for reviewing our manuscript entitled " The Effect of Tamarind Seed Gum on the Qualities of Gluten-Free Cakes ", submitted for publication in Processes. Please find enclosed the revised manuscript and we hope that these modifications will make the manuscript more appropriate for publication.
We have addressed the Reviewer’s comments here below:
Thank you for thorough correction of your manuscript and detailed review response. The manuscript is almost ready for publication as is. However, please consider following suggestions:
Line 20 gluten-free baked products as it results in
Line 39 delete “such as gelling and be used” and replace with …that serves as a stabilizing agent…
Line 85 in CIE L*a*b* color space using
Line 87 lacking ∆ before E
Line 146 Change to plural (highest, lowest, cakes and were)
Line 155 Firmness of the cakes
Line 176 are presented in Table 3
Line 177 This sentence in unclear, needs rephrasing
Line 179 compared to
Line 180 The crumb color difference (∆E)
Line 183 cake in comparison to
Line 187 I’m suggesting “during storage”
Line 237 Gluten-free cakes with addition of 0.4% tamarind seed gum can be perceived as good products in terms of
Response:
Corrections were made accordingly in the revised manuscript in lines 20-21, 39, 84-85, 145, 154, 176-178, 184, and 234-234 as red marked texts. The unclear sentence in line 177 was deleted. We can feel the referee spent so much time reading our manuscript very carefully. Please give us suggestion and hope this revised manuscript could have a great improvement.
Sincerely yours,
Wen-Chieh Sung
