Post-harvest processing and standardization of value added cereal based traditional recipes for iron security

Bengal gram leaves (Cicer arietinum) were selected for the study which aimed to standardize iron rich cereal based traditional recipes with dried Bengal gram leaves for iron security. Blanched Bengal gram leaves were dried in cabinet dryer and its rehydration ratio (4.07), chlorophyll content (16.0± 0.42 mg/g) and total iron content (93.61± 0.08 mg/100g) were recorded. Dehydrated Bengal gram leaves powder was incorporated into‘Chapati’, ‘Poori’-wheat flour based deep fried product and‘Paratha’ – a cereal based shallow fried product at 5, 7.5 and 10% levels. All the acceptable products incorporated with 7.5% dehydrated Bengal gram leaves received higher scores of 8.34 (extremely good) to 8.44 (excellent) on nine point hedonic scale, indicating the acceptable utilization of dehydrated Bengal gram leaves in traditional products. However, acceptability scores reduced with increasing concentration of dehydrated Bengal gram leaves. Total iron content was estimated higher in chapati(14.787mg/100g) supplemented with dehydrated Bengal gram leaves than Poori(12.87mg/100g) andParatha (13.33mg/100g).Addition of dehydrated Bengal gram leaves increased iron density of all products. Development of value added cereal based recipe using dehydrated Bengal gram leaves extend the utility of supplementation of dehydrated vegetables in traditional recipes for iron security.