Grape Pomace as Innovative Flour for the Formulation of Functional Muffins: How Particle Size Affects the Nutritional, Textural and Sensory Properties

Every year, the winemaking process generates large quantities of waste and by-products, the management of which is critical due to the large production in a limited period. Grape pomace is a source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and antimicrobial properties. Its chemical composition makes it potentially suitable for preparing high-value food products. The aim of this research was to study the effect of adding grape pomace powder with different particle size fractions (600–425, 425–300, 300–212 and 212–150 µm) to the chemical, technological and sensorial characteristics of muffins. The addition of 15% of grape pomace powder, regardless of particle size, led to muffins rich in antioxidant compounds and total dietary fiber (>3/100 g), which could be labelled with the “source of fiber” nutritional claim according to the EC Regulation 1924/2006. As particle size decreased, total anthocyanins, total phenol content and antioxidant activity (evaluated by ABTS and DPPH assays) increased, while muffin hardness and lightness were negatively influenced. The latter observation was confirmed by the sensory evaluation, which also showed that a smaller particle size led to the presence of irregular crumb pores.