Ahmed Shaheen^*1, Hoda Habbal ² and Bassam Al-oklah ³

1General Organization for Food Industries, Ministry of Economy and Industry, Damascus, Syria.
2 Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, University of Damascus, Damascus, Syria.
3 Department of Industrial and Food Technologies, General Authority for Biotechnology, Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author:Eng. Ahmed Shaheen, E-Mail: ahmadshaheen684@gmail.com, Phone: 0998561438).

Received:1 /11 / 2025    Accepted: 24/02 / 2026

Abstract

The research was conducted during 2023-2024 at the Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture and the Industrial and Food Technology Laboratory at the General Authority for Biotechnology. The study aimed to examine the effect of the germination process and the addition of oats and quinoa on some quality indicators of non-alcoholic barley syrup. Several physical and chemical indicators were studied. The results showed that the germination process significantly (p<0.05) and positively affected the concentrations of total soluble solids, phenols, and antioxidant activity, with these indicators increasing from 3.20 to 10.40%, from 27 to 38.7 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 ml, and from 365 to 570 µg ascorbic acid equivalents/100 ml, respectively, in syrups prepared from germinated barley compared to syrups prepared from raw barley. The addition of quinoa to the germinated barley resulted in an increase in antioxidant activity, reaching 696.8 µg ascorbic acid equivalents/100 ml compared to the addition of oats. The results of the sensory evaluation showed that the germination process improved the sensory properties of the syrup compared to the non-germinated one, while significant differences in taste were recorded between the germinated barley syrup samples and the samples with added quinoa and germinated oat.

Keywords: barley syrup, germination, quinoa, oat, phenolics, antioxidant activity

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