Quality Characteristics of Vegetable-Blended Wheat-Pearl Millet Composite Pasta

The aim of this work was to optimize the formulations for wheat-based pasta incorporated with pearl millet flour and vegetables. A blend of wheat and pearl millet flour (9: 1) with vegetable paste (2 % dry solids) was extruded. Incorporation of pearl millet flour and vegetable resulted in nutritionally rich pasta as compared to control due to increased mineral content viz., calcium (23.5-40.9 mg/100 g), iron (2.7-4.3 mg/100 g), phosphorous (121-244 mg/100 g), potassium (130-190 mg/100 g), and sodium (8.9-21.1 mg/100 g). Vegetable incorporation improved the textural attributes i.e., increased firmness and decreased stickiness significantly (p <= 0.05) and caused significant (p <= 0.05) reduction in gruel loss. Based on the nutritional, textural and sensory acceptability, spinach incorporated pasta was most acceptable. The effect of storage time was not significant on pasta quality parameters, indicating that pasta was acceptable up to 3 months stored in polyethylene bags (50 mu) without any preservative under ambient conditions.