Abstract:
The production of fruits and vegetables in India during 2010-11 is 74877.6 MT and
146554.5MT, respectively (National Horticulture Board, 2011). India is the largest producer
of banana with an annual production of around 29780MT during 2010 -11from an area of
830 HA which contributes 39.8% of the total fruit production. Banana peels are dumped in
huge quantities as solid wastes from various chips industries therefore , the wastage of peels
is at a peak rate. These peels are a rich source of dietry fibre , amino acids , proteins and
potassium. Therefore, utilising of these peels can benefit a lot to human health.Thus a
conclusion was reached to utilise the dietry fibre of these peels to prepare fibre fortified
pasta., which is a part of well balanced diet.Banana peels were collected and pre-treatments
were given to retain the colour and were kept for drying at 60±1 0 C in cabinet drier. Dried
peels were subjected to grinding in a mixer grinder to obtain peel powder. Various tests were
conducted on the peel powder for determining the crude fibre, carbohydrate and total soluble
solids for finding out the nutritional composition. This powder was used for preparing pasta
by extruding it through pasta making machine.(La Monferrina.s.r.l).Six samples using
different compositions of flour and peel powder were prepared. In that , 3 samples were
fortified using chocolate. The samples were kept for sensory evaluation after cooking and
found out that one of the composition secured good score.
