Corresponding Author's Email Address: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Background: Grain legumes are known to contribute to improving the nutritional status of poor segment of
populations and especially when combined with cereals. Processing techniques have been reported to affect the quality of grain foods.

Objective: This study investigated the effect of five domestic food processing methods on some minerals,
antinutrients and functional properties of mungbean flour.

Methodology: Two thousand four hundred grammes (2400g) of mungbeans were weighed out and divided into six
equal portions and processed differently: dehulled and shade dried (DSH); dehulled and sun dried (DSU); fermented
for 24hours (F24), fermented for 48hours (F48); sprouted for seven days (SP7) respectively. The control (UDSH) was washed, undehulled and shade dried. The portions were milled, sifted and later analysed for minerals, anti-nutrients and functional properties. The analyses were done on dry weight basis. The data were analyzed using means and standard deviation. Significance level was accepted at (P<0.05).

Results: The F24 and F48 flours had higher calcium values (84.39.± 0.46 and 81.99 ± 0.14mg/100g) relative to the
other samples. The UDSH had lower sodium 7.51± 0.71mg/100g while F24 had the highest value (9.16 ±0.43) that
were relatively different (p<0.05) from the other samples. The F24 and control (UDSH) flours had lower comparable
(p<0.05) phytate values (5.89±0.12g/100g and (5.55 ±0.12±0.11g/100g)relative to the other flours. Values for tannins ranged from 4.02± 0.12g/100g in (SP7) to 6.87±0.07g/100g in (F48). Oxalate values of 2.00±0.04g/100g in (SP7) and 2.16±0.11g/100g in the control (UDSH) sample were comparable (p<0.05) to the other groups. The solubility (Psol) values ranged was from 4.70±.20mg in the control sample to 5.28±0.13mg in the SP7 sample.

Conclusion: The study showed that fermentation had an edge over other methods of food processing. Fermented
mungbean flour could therefore be used in formulation and development of nutritious products.

Keywords

mungbeans, processing, antinurients, minerals, functional properties

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