Germination of legumes followed by hydrothermal treatments is an effective mean of improving nutritive value of legumes. The protein content of mungbean, chickpea and cowpea increased by 9-11, 11-16 and 8-11% after germination. A significant (p≤0.05) decrease in protein content was observed on pressure cooking and microwaving in all three legumes. The carbohydrates decreased by 1 to 3% during soaking and 2 to 6% during germination. A significant (p≤0.05) improvement in in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) was observed after soaking as well as after three germination periods. Germination resulted in an increase in IVPD from 15 to 25% in mungbean, 6 to 17% in chickpea and 6 to 17% in cowpea. A significant (p≤0.05) increase in IVPD was observed when raw sprouts of three legumes were subjected to pressure cooking and microwaving. In vitro starch digestibility (IVSD) increased significantly (p≤0.05) after germination, the percent increase being 8 to 12% in mungbean, 9 to 11% in chickpea and 10 to 13% in cowpea. The duration of germination had significant (p≤0.05) effect on IVSD. A significant (p≤0.05) improvement in IVSD was observed when legume sprouts were subjected to pressure cooking and microwave cooking.

Steam pressure cooking (1 kg/cm 2 ) and boiling (100°C) for 3 standardized time periods were assessed. Prolonged cooking in both pressure cooking and boiling resulted in a significant (p≤0.05) loss in Fe and Ca. A significant loss of ascorbic acid and ß-carotene were observed during 2 cooking methods, the greater loss was during boiling. Pressure cooking and boiling resulted in significant (p≤0.05) destruction in the anti-nutrients like phytates, tannins and trypsin inhibitors. The in vitro protein digestibility was highest (93.9%) on 3 min pressure cooking followed by 15 min boiling (91.0%). The results indicated that pressure cooking should be preferred cooking method. Pressure cooking for 3 min and boiling for 15 min improved in vitro protein digestibility by reducing antinutrients considerably.

Germinated legumes are highly nutritious food especially for their enhanced iron bioavailability primarily because of reduction of phytates and increase in ascorbic acid with an advancement of germination period. Length of germination time followed by different heat treatments affect the nutritive value of leguminous sprouts. To optimize germination time and heat treatments for enhanced availability of iron from leguminous sprouts, three legumes namely, mungbean, chickpea and cowpea were germinated for three time periods followed by cooking of sprouts by two cooking methods ie. pressure cooking and microwaving. Optimized germination time for mungbean was 12, 16 and 20 h; 36, 48 and 60 h for chickpea and 16, 20 and 24 h for cowpea. Germination process increased ascorbic acid significantly in all the three legumes, the values being 8.24 to 8.87 mg/100 g in mungbean, 9.34 to 9.85 mg/100 g in chickpea and 9.12 to 9.68 mg/100 g in cowpea. Soaking and germination significantly reduced the phytin phosphorus in all the three legumes, the percent reduction being 5.3 to 16.1% during soaking and 25.7 to 46.4% during germination. The reduction in phytin phosphorus after pressure cooking was 9.6% in mungbean, 18.4% in chickpea and 6.1% in cowpea. The corresponding values during microwaving were 8.4, 19.7 and 4.5%. Mineral bioavailability as predicted by phytate:iron enhanced significantly with an increase in germination time. Further reduction i.e. 0.9 to 16.3% was observed in three legumes after the two heat treatments. The study concluded that the longer germination periods ie. 20 h for mungbean, 60 h for chickpea and 24 h for cowpea followed by pressure cooking for optimized time were suitable in terms of better iron availability.

The influence of semolina replacement with wheatgrass powder (WGP; 3%–15%) was evaluated with reference to nutritional, techno‐functional, phytochemical, textural, and structural characteristics of functional pasta. Results showed that incorporation of WGP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the pasting viscosity of flour blends, while it increased the water and oil absorption capacity and water solubility index. Increased levels of WGP significantly decreased the optimum cooking time from 6.00 to 4.22 min but increased the cooking loss (2.83%–4.36%). Enrichment of pasta with WGP significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced the protein (12.16–17.33 g/100 g), fiber (1.21–4.60 g/100 g), antioxidant activities in terms of DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS. The total phenolic and flavonoid content increased from 56.20–253.90 mg GAE/100 g to 47.41–202.90 mg QE/100 g in the functional pasta. Addition of WGP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the lightness (L*) while the greenness (−a*) of the pasta increased progressively owing to the total chlorophyll pigment. The firmness and toughness of the pasta increased up to 9% WGP level and decreased further, owing to the interaction between WGP protein and fiber with gluten protein matrix as evident from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the cooking of pasta results in a significant reduction in all the components in comparison to uncooked pasta. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy further confirmed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, and chlorophyll in WGP‐incorporated pasta. Overall acceptability scores of pastas with 9% WGP were found to have the highest (7.57), and with an increase in a further level of WGP, sensory scores decreased (6.55). Moreover, the principal component analysis also compliments the sensory results for 9% WGP‐incorporated pasta.

Cereals and legumes are staple foods in India and are limiting in lysine and sulphur amino acids, respectively. Available lysine loss, due to Maillard-type reactions that may occur during food preparation, exacerbates the problem of lysine deficiency particularly in cereals. Consequently, determining the contents of digestible essential amino acids, particularly lysine, is important. True ileal digestibilities of most amino acids (including total and reactive lysine) were determined for ten food ingredients and eleven foods commonly consumed in India. Semi-synthetic diets each containing either an ingredient or the prepared food as the sole protein source were formulated to contain 100 g kg 21 protein (75 g kg 21 for rice-based diets) and fed to growing rats. Titanium dioxide was included as an indigestible marker. Digesta were collected and the amino acid content (including reactive lysine) of diets and ileal digesta determined. Available (digestible reactive) lysine content ranged from 1·9-15·4 g kg 21 and 1·8 -12·7 g kg 21 across the ingredients and prepared foods respectively. True ileal amino acid digestibility varied widely both across ingredients and prepared foods for each amino acid (on average 60-92 %) and across amino acids within each ingredient and prepared food (overall digestibility 31 -96 %). Amino acid digestibility was low for many of the ingredients and prepared foods and consequently digestibility must be considered when assessing the protein quality of poorer quality foods. Given commonly encountered daily energy intakes for members of the Indian population, it is estimated that lysine is limiting for adults in many Indian diets.