Upcycling of brewers’ spent grain by production of dry pasta with higher nutritional potential

Abstract The upcycling of by-products from agro-food processes is currently one of the main circular economy principles. In this work the major by-product of the brewing industry, the barley spent grain (BSG), was used to enrich semolina to develop dry pasta with an increased potential nutritional value. Three different concentrations of BSG (5, 10 and 20 g/100g) were added to the durum wheat semolina. BSG enriched pasta have been compared with traditional durum wheat pasta for the content of proteins, resistant starch, β-glucan, dietary fibre, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and for sensorial characteristics. Enriched pasta showed an increase in fibre up to 135%, in β-glucan up to 85% and in TAC up to 19%. BSG enrichment involved minimal effects on sensory properties of cooked pasta, which showed a slight decrease in optimal cooking time, firmness and yellow index and an increase in total organic matter.