Functional characteristics and storage stability of hot air assisted radio frequency treated pearl millet

Abstract

AbstractNutricereals, pearl millet flour consumption is hardly limited to a few specific regions of the world owing to the development of early rancidity on storage. Hot air assisted radio frequency technology (HARF) was used to improve the storage stability of pearl millet flour. Pearl millets at different moisture levels of 10.5±0.5, 12 & 15% were subjected to HARF for 5-, 10- & 15-min exposure period under fixed electrode position. The results revealed that significant reduction in peroxide value and free fatty acid values of flours from treated pearl millet was found compared to decorticated raw flour; thereby, the storage stability enhancement of pearl millet flour up to 180 days was achieved. No significant difference was found for emulsifying, foaming and cooking properties between treated pearl millet at 15% moisture, 15 min exposure and decorticated raw one. In contrast, the bulk density of flour from treated pearl millet was found higher. Significant increase in hardness of cooked grains after the treatment was observed while the springiness, cohesiveness and gumminess values did not vary. In FTIR analysis, no difference was observed between the peaks of whole and decorticated pearl millet flours in both untreated and treated samples. Graphical Abstract