Effect of toasting on cooking behaviour and acceptability of composite finger millet (Eleusine coracana) vermicelli with defatted soy flour

Finger millet is the staple food for a large segment of population in India. It is nutritionally superior to wheat and rice with respect to protective nutrients such as dietary fiber, calcium and micro-nutrients. Hence finger millet offers many opportunities for utilization in diversified products like pasta by adopting appropriate processing techniques. In the present investigation the effect of incorporation of defatted soy flour and toasting of finger millet vermicelli on cooking and sensory quality was studied. Vermicelli was prepared by mixing finger millet flour, whole wheat flour and defatted soy flour at 10 and 15 per cent using 34 per cent of hot (75°C) and cold water. Toasting was done for a period ranging from 2–5 minutes at 120°C. Cooking qualities like cooked weight, hydrated volume and cooking loss was recorded. Vermicelli containing either 10 or 15 per cent defatted soy flour using hot or cold water indicated that the cooked weight and hydrated volume was higher for untoasted vermicelli as compared to toasted vermicelli. The cooked weight and hydrated volume was higher for 10 per cent incorporation. However cooking loss was less for toasted (at 3 minutes) vermicelli containing 10 per cent defatted soy flour using hot water (7.4%) as against 9.2 per cent for cold water. The subjective analysis on 5 point hedonic scale by semi-trained panels showed that toasted vermicelli had desirable sensory quality as indicated by statistical data which were significantly different (P<0.05). Vermicelli from hot water dough at 10 per cent defatted soy flour had comparatively higher sensory scores.