DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY EVALUATION OF NUTRIENT RICH PASTA FROM COMPOSITE FLOUR

Abstract

Pasta by itself is a healthy nutritional diet and has great scope as an ideal functional food if supplemented with additional healthy ingredients. Taking this context into consideration there is a need to develop nutrient rich pasta that explores different health ingredients that are compatible with the physiological characteristics of pasta. A study was conducted on the development of nutrient rich pasta by cold extrusion technique using lab-scale DOLLY equipment. The samples were made by mixing ingredients of rice flour, cornflour, chickpea, finger millet, carrot powder and guar gum. The carrot was dried, powdered and mixed with pulverized cereal. The extruded pasta was dried in a cabinet dryer at a temperature of 70°C for 3hours. Based on the preliminary trials conducted, five samples were selected and its quality evaluation was conducted. L* value of cooked pasta sample ranged from 42.54 to 51.35. The maximum L* value of 51.35 was obtained for sample 5 whereas minimum value of 42.54 was obtained for sample 4. The a* and b* value of cooked pasta ranged from 5.44 to 6.46 and 13.93 to 15.19, respectively. percentage elongation of the sample ranged from 21.2% to 10.3% and 20.87% to 7% in terms of length and thickness, respectively. Maximum elongation (length) was obtained for sample 2 and minimum elongation (length) for sample 3. Sample 5 had the maximum elongation in terms of thickness whereas sample 4 had the minimum elongation in terms of thickness. water activity of cooked pasta ranged from 0.892 to 0.842. optimum cooking time of the samples ranged from 5 to 8 min. Maximum OCT was obtained for sample 1 whereas minimum value was obtained for sample 2 and sample 5. From the quality and sensory analysis, sample 5(20 % chickpea, 38% rice, 18% cornflour, 9 % finger millet, 9 % carrot powder and 5% guar gum) was selected the best among the other 5 samples in terms of colour, cooking characteristics and sensory qualities. Further storage studies were done for the optimized sample for 3 months. The pasta samples packed in LDPE was found safe during the storage period. The developed nutrient rich pasta incorporated with 20 % chickpea, 38% rice, 18% cornflour, 9 % finger millet, 9 % carrot powder and 5% guar gum not only ensured taste and overall acceptability, but also increased the nutrition level.