Development of nutritious convenience extruded snacks using composite flour of sorghum, maize and sweet potato

The present study was aimed at utilization of underutilized crops such as sorghum, maize and sweet potato in development of nutritious convenience foods. Home scale atta chakki was used to mill sorghum (PSC-4) and maize (PMH-1) to obtain whole flours. Method for obtaining flour from sweet potato (PSP-21) was standardized. Formulation for ready-to-eat extrudates (RTE) was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Feed moisture (FM) was the most significant (p&0.01) independent variable that affected the expansion ratio, bulk density, hardness and overall acceptability of the RTE extrudates. The optimized formulation was 50.0 g SPF, 5.71 g SF per 100 g blend along with maize flour and 12.00 per cent (v/w basis) FM at 91.10 per cent desirability. The optimized extrudates were subjected analysis of physico-chemical and functional properties. Shelf-life studies revealed that the extruded snacks were acceptable for up to 90 days under ambient conditions. Overall, incorporation of SPF in extrudates increased the vitamin-C and potassium contents while incorporation of maize increased the beta carotene content.