Abstract

NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF RAW AND SOAKING COMPARED TO PRESSURE-COOKED (CICER ARIETINUM L.) SEEDS

K. Sindhu and S. Sumathi*

ABSTRACT

Food is the basic necessity of man. If is a mixture of different nutrients such as carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals. They nutrients are essential for growth, development and maintenance of good health throughout life. Chickpea is an important pulse crop with a wide range of potential nutritional benefits because of its chemical composition. Raw and processed (soaked and pressure-cooked) seeds of chickpea were analyzed for nutritional qualities such as carbohydrates, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin-B, vitamin-C, vitamin-D, vitamin-E, ash and moisture. A significant difference was seen between the proximate composition of raw and processed seeds. Based on the results pressure-cooked method is recommended for chickpea preparation, not only for improving nutritional quality, but also for reducing cooking time.

Keywords: phytochemical compounds, proximate composition, Cicer arietinum (L.)