A peleg modeling of water absorption in cold plasma-treated Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars.

Plasma processing appears to be the mainstay of food preservation in the present day due to its effectiveness in controlling microorganisms at low temperatures. Legumes are usually soaked before cooking. Six chickpea varieties (Kripa, Virat, Vishal, Vijay, Digvijay, and Rajas) were soaked in distilled water at room temperature, and Peleg model was fitted after plasma treatment. Cold plasma treatment was used at 40, 50 and 60 Watt with exposure times of 10, 15 and 20 min. K1 (Peleg rate constant) consistently decreased from 32.3 to 4.3 × 10-3 (h % - 1) for all six chickpea cultivars, indicating an increased water absorption rate with increasing plasma power and treatment time. It was lowest in 60 W 20 min plasma treatment in Virat cultivar. K2 (Peleg capacity constant) ranged from 9.4 to 12 × 10-3 (h % - 1) for all six chickpea cultivars. Thus, plasma treatment showed no effect on water uptake capacity (K2), as it did not increase or decrease consistently with increasing plasma power and treatment time. Fitting the Peleg model successfully revealed the correlation between the water absorption of chickpea cultivars. The model fit ranged from R2 ≥ 0.9873 to 0.9981 for all six chickpea cultivars.

Effect of basil herb on cookies development and its effect on the nutritive, elemental, phytochemical, textural and sensory quality.

The present study aimed to determine their nutritional, elemental, bioactive compounds, textural, and sensory evaluation of herbal cookies by incorporating the basil, basil along with ajwain or orange peel that encompasses adequate nutrients. The cookies prepared with four different composition i.e., Sample1 (control), Sample 2 (basil), Sample 3 (basil + ajwain), Sample 4 (basil + orange peel). Results interpret that incorporating basil, ajwain, and orange peel have an encouraging effect on the nutritional and elemental value of cookies compared to sample 1. Sample 1 contains a fair amount of carotenoid content, and the phenolic content was higher in sample 4, whereas chlorophyll content was higher in sample 3. In contrast, sample 2 contains the highest level of chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll. The samples containing basil were harder (398.49 ± 17.09), and fracture-ability was more in the control sample (657.98 ± 75.62), whereas gumminess was more in cookies prepared from basil + orange (180.64 ± 8.40). After control basil incorporated cookies showed better in color (7 ± 0.58), hardness (7.46 ± 0.78), taste (7.23 ± 0.44), mouth feel (7 ± 0.82), and overall acceptability (7.07 ± 0.73) compared to other cookies. Considering all the parameters in this study, cookies prepared with herb basil incorporation help improve the quality of cookies.

Potential of cold plasma to control Callosobruchus chinensis (Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) in chickpea cultivars during four year storage.

Cold plasma has proven itself as a promising method of food preservation by controlling food spoilage bacteria at very low temperatures. It is showing potential for insect control. Synthetic pesticides are mostly used to control Callosobruchus chinensis L. (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera) to which it has developed resistance. The prospective potential of cold plasma treatment to control pulse beetle infestation of chickpea in the storage for about four years of plasma treatment was studied. The four chickpea cultivars were treated with cold plasma at different power 40, 50, and 60 W each for 10, 15, 20 min. Plasma treated and untreated chickpeas were stored in an airtight ziplock pouch. At regular intervals, the grains were observed for infestation. It was found most effective in controlling the pulse beetle infestation of treated chickpea samples. While plasma untreated chickpeas were attacked and damaged mostly by pulse beetle within the first quarter of the storage study. To avoid the problems created by the use of pesticides cold plasma treatment is found to be the best alternative in the protection of chickpea invasion by pulse beetle during a longer storage period. The findings in the present research may be used for the preparation of legumes which may also soak and cook faster like quick-cooking legumes and preserved for years without invasion of pulse beetle.

Effect of physicochemical and rheological properties of flour from different local wheat varieties on the quality of varanphal: an Indian traditional product.

Varanphal is an Indian traditional product which is similar to pasta. The suitability of four local varieties of wheat flour (Lokwan, Sharbati, MP cross S.H.R. and MP Lokwan) was determined by evaluating their physicochemical and rheological properties. The rheological properties such as farinographic characteristics, dough hardness, stickiness, and spreadability of dough were also evaluated for the same. Flour and dough properties of wheat varieties were correlated with varanphal quality characteristics. The correlation coefficient data indicated that amongst the physicochemical properties of flour such as protein, dry gluten, and damaged starch content were the indices in predicting the varanphal quality. The rheological properties such as farinograph water absorption, dough stability, hardness and spreadability were found to be highly correlated with varanphal quality. The strong relationship were observed between dry gluten content with spreadability, L* value flour with dough stickiness, dough hardness with protein content, dough hardness with overall acceptibility and cohesiveness of dough with the cohesiveness of varnaphal.

Functional and rheological properties of cold plasma treated rice starch.

The present work deals with aimed to study the effect of cold plasma treatment on the functional and rheological properties of rice starch using two different power levels (40 and 60W). The changes in amylose content, turbidity, pH, water and fat absorption due to plasma treatment were evaluated. Where decrease in the turbidity and pH after the treatment was observed. Gel hydration properties and syneresis study revealed that there is an increase in leaching of amylose molecules after the treatment. Rapid Visco Analyzer examination showed an increase in pasting and final viscosities. From G' and G″ moduli determination we observed that there is decrease in retrogradation tendency of starch gels. XRD did not show any change in A-type pattern but decrease in the relative crystallinity was observed due to depolymerization caused by active plasma species. FTIR shows some of the additional functional groups after treatment. SEM showed formation of fissures on the surface of starch granules due to etching caused by the plasma species. Thus, plasma treatment can be one of the methods for physical modification of starch.

Effect of low temperature plasma on the functional properties of basmati rice flour.

The present study deals with the application of low temperature plasma on basmati rice flour and its effect on functional properties such as gel hydrations properties, flour hydration properties, gelatinization temperatures and antioxidant properties. The water holding capacity and water binding capacity were observed to be increased with increase in plasma power and time of treatment as the air plasma is known to make the surface more hydrophilic. XRD analysis revealed there is no significance difference in the crystalline structure after the plasma treatment. DSC shows a decrease in peak temperatures (Tp) after the treatment. Hot paste viscosities were observed to be decease from 692 to 591 BU was corresponded to decrease in peak temperature. The total polyphenolic content and reducing power was observed to be increased. The effects of plasma treatment on functional groups of polyphenols were observed by changes in absorption intensities using FTIR. This study demonstrates that the low temperature plasma treatmentis capable of improving the functional properties of basmati rice.

Mini-papad containing cheese powder--a novelty snack food.

The present work reports on attempts to develop mini-papads containing cheese powder to create a novel taste, with potential for urban and export markets. Cheese powder was added to black gram flour at 0-50% levels and papads were prepared in the conventional manner by rolling the dough and drying. These papads were deep-fat fried at 180 degrees C. Upto 20% addition of cheese powder gave no perceptible change in taste or flavour of the mini-papads. At 30% addition brown colouration was observed which decreased the sensory appeal. At 40 and 50% levels, although the mouthfeel and flavour of cheese was desirable, browning increased markedly, which drastically lowered the overall acceptability. Ascorbic acid addition at 0.5-1.0% markedly decreased the browning. The papads had a higher fat content on frying as compared to the control but were excellent organoleptically, suggesting them to be a tasty and crunchy snack food.

Low-fat papadams from black gram-tapioca blends.

Papadams, made from black gram (Phaseolus mungo) and largely manufactured on cottage scale are popular in the Indian dietary. Escalating prices of black gram coupled with abundant availability of tapioca flour at almost 1/8th the price of black gram prompted the study of papadam characteristics using blends of black gram and tapioca flour. Tapioca flour up to 25% substitution did not alter the sensory attributes. However, the expansibility of the product decreased on addition of tapioca flour; a fact which could be overcome by using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) at 3% level of black gram flour. This decreased the oil content to 19.7% and also increased the expansibility to 5.539%.