Nutritional profiling and value addition of products from Hypsizygus tessellatus

Abstract

<p class="Default"><em>Hypsizygus tessellatus</em> is a popular wild edible culinary mushroom commonly cultivated in Japan, East Asia and North Europe. It is rich in micro nutrients and has great anti-tumorous, anti-cancerous rich polysaccharide fractions i.e. β-glucan, thus making it a good source of nutraceuticals. The present study was undertaken to investigate the nutritional as well as medicinal profile of this mushroom. Freeze dried and hot air dried samples were taken for the analysis. HPLC-RID investigations were carried out to estimate the content of β-glucan. The results revealed that it contains high proportions of protein (33.89g/100g), fiber (13.20g/100g), carbohydrates (50.10g/100g), potassium (1575mg/100g), calcium (98mg/100g) and phosphorus (568mg100g). The fat content was found to be 2.80gm/100g. Iron (18mg/100g) and zinc (5mg/100g) were present in trace amounts. Freeze dried fruit bodies showed better results than hot air dried samples pertaining to all nutritional and nutraceutical parameters. Value added products i.e. biscuits and salted crackers were made by incorporating 5 and 10% mushroom powder in refined wheat flour and their proximate, organoleptic and bioactive constituents were analyzed. Sensory evaluation based on hedonic scale resulted in high sensory ratings of all the products. The present study suggested that incorporation of 5% mushroom powder in salted crackers (<em>Mathri)</em> and 10% in biscuits not only increased concentration of protein, dietary fiber and β-glucan but also improved its flavor, texture and acceptability.</p><p class="Default"><strong>Keywords: </strong><em>Hypsizygus tesellatus</em>; lyophilization; hot air drying; salted cracker; biscuits; β-glucan</p>