Formulation and Evaluation of Finger Millet based Convenience Mixes

Background: Finger millet is an inevitable traditional climate-smart crop of Jharkhand, which has the potential to address the problem of malnutrition on a sustainable basis. However, despite its nutritional and health potential, it is on the verge of extinction. The revival of finger millet in the daily diet of people requires diversification of the products suiting to the changing needs of the consumers. Rapid industrialization and urbanization and changes in the eating habits of Indian people led to a very high demand for convenience mix. Therefore, an attempt was made to develop a low-cost finger millet-based burfi and halwa mix and evaluate the nutritional quality of the mixes. Methods: Two types of burfi mix and halwa mix were developed by using ragi malt or ragi semolina, wheat and germinated green gram supplemented with milk powder, groundnut, etc. Developed products were subjected to sensory evaluation on a 9-point Hedonic scale and analyzed for proximate composition, calcium, iron, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and ß-carotene by standard methods. Result: All products were found acceptable. Both experimental burfi and halwa mixes were found superior in terms of protein, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc.