# Effect of Microwave-Assisted Processing of Acorn Flour on Muffin Quality
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Multivariate Analysis of Wheat-Acorn Muffins Quality  
The results of the physical, chemical, and organoleptic characteristics of the wheat-acorn muffins were subjected to multivariate analysis by cluster analysis (CA). The hierarchical cluster analysis was performed by applying the Ward method and Euclidean distance. Figure 3 shows the dendrogram obtained for muffins with dry and wet microwave-treated acorn flour. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Sample Type** & **Color** & **Aroma** & **Taste** & **Texture** & **Overall** \\  & & & & & **Acceptance \({}^{*}\)** \\ \hline AF\_0 & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.72 ab & 4.07 \(\pm\) 0.46 ab & 3.87 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.15 \\ \hline Samples with dry microwave-treated acorn flour & & & & & \\ \hline AF\_925\_1.0 & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.68 ab & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.56 a & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.73 \(\pm\) 0.46 a & 4.35 \\ AF\_925\_2.0 & 4.13 \(\pm\) 0.64 a & 4.27 \(\pm\) 0.59 a & 4.47 \(\pm\) 0.52 ab & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.31 \\ AF\_925\_3.0 & 4.87 \(\pm\) 0.35 b & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.63 a & 4.80 \(\pm\) 0.41 b & 3.60 \(\pm\) 0.51 c & 4.45 \\ AF\_1295\_0.5 & 4.27 \(\pm\) 0.70 ab & 3.93 \(\pm\) 0.70 a & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.68 ab & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.52 a & 4.20 \\ AF\_1295\_1.0 & 4.47 \(\pm\) 0.74 ab & 4.00 \(\pm\) 0.76 a & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.68 ab & 4.27 \(\pm\) 0.80 ab & 4.21 \\ AF\_1295\_1.5 & 4.73 \(\pm\) 0.46 ab & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.51 a & 4.47 \(\pm\) 0.52 ab & 4.07 \(\pm\) 0.70 ab & 4.42 \\ AF\_1850\_0.5 & 4.67 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.13 \(\pm\) 0.74 a & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.07 \(\pm\) 0.59 ab & 4.29 \\ AF\_1850\_1.0 & 4.80 \(\pm\) 0.41 ab & 4.60 \(\pm\) 0.63 a & 4.60 \(\pm\) 0.51 b & 3.73 \(\pm\) 0.70 b & 4.47 \\ \hline Samples with wet microwave-treated acorn flour & & & & & \\ \hline AF\_W\_925\_1.0 & 4.27 \(\pm\) 0.80 ab & 4.60 \(\pm\) 0.63 ab & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.83 ab & 4.47 \\ AF\_W\_925\_2.0 & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.77 ab & 4.67 \(\pm\) 0.49 ab & 4.67 \(\pm\) 0.49 ab & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.77 ab & 4.48 \\ AF\_W\_925\_3.0 & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.74 ab & 4.73 \(\pm\) 0.46 b & 4.80 \(\pm\) 0.41 b & 4.07 \(\pm\) 0.70 ab & 4.55 \\ AF\_W\_1295\_0.5 & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.72 ab & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.13 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.27 \(\pm\) 0.80 ab & 4.26 \\ AF\_W\_1295\_1.0 & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.52 ab & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.52 ab & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.51 ab & 3.73 \(\pm\) 0.80 ab & 4.33 \\ AF\_W\_1295\_1.5 & 4.80 \(\pm\) 0.56 a & 4.53 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.40 \(\pm\) 0.74 ab & 3.60 \(\pm\) 0.63 bc & 4.36 \\ AF\_W\_1850\_0.5 & 3.80 \(\pm\) 0.68 b & 4.47 \(\pm\) 0.64 ab & 4.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 ab & 4.13 \(\pm\) 0.74 ab & 4.23 \\ AF\_W\_1850\_1.0 & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.77 ab & 4.73 \(\pm\) 0.59 b & 4.60 \(\pm\) 0.63 b & 3.40 \(\pm\) 0.74 c & 4.32 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Overall acceptance was determined using the following weighting coefficients: color = 0.2, aroma = 0.3, taste = 0.3, and texture = 0.2. The results are the mean \(\pm\) standard deviation (\(n=15\)): AF—acorn flour, 0—control samples; W—wet microwave treatment;925, 1295, 1850—microwave power (in watts); 0.5. 3.0—microwave processing time (in minutes); a, b, c, a, B, C—mean values within a column marked with different superscript letters indicate statistically significant differences at \(p\leq 0.05\), as determined by [PERSON]’s test. The significance of differences was assessed separately for samples with dry (lowercase) and wet (uppercase) microwaved flour.  
\end{table} 
Table 6: Organoleptic properties of wheat-acorn muffins in relation to microwave treatment of acorn flour. It was observed that, for a Euclidean distance of less than 10, three distinct clusters could be identified. Cluster 1 was characterized by muffins made with wet microwave-treated acorn flour, particularly those processed at lower microwave power and for shorter durations. These samples exhibited more favorable organoleptic properties, including higher scores for color, aroma, and taste, as well as better overall acceptance. Technologically, they were distinguished by greater volume and crumb porosity, alongside relatively lower crumb firmness.