Value addition of traditional wheat flour vermicelli

Vermicelli is a product prepared by using whole or refined wheat flour. Hard dough is prepared, extruded and dried in the sun. Since wheat flour is deficient in lysine, one of the essential amino acids, the protein quality remains poor. Refining of wheat further reduces nutritional quality. Therefore value addition of vermicelli is of prime importance to improve nutrient content and to save its delicacy. Secondly, use of value added convenient/processed foods can be a solution to the problem of supplementary feeding and under nutrition Gernah et al. (Am J Food Technol 6:404-412, 2011). Three variations of vermicelli were prepared using whole wheat flour (WWF); malted wheat flour (MWF); malted wheat flour, green gram, spinach and sago (MGSS). A spice mix containing powders of tomato, coriander, chillies, turmeric, salt, raw mango powder, black pepper, cloves and asafetida was also prepared. Results revealed that the overall acceptability scores for WWF, MWF and MGSS were 7.3 ± 6.13, 6.5 ± 0.06 and 8.1 ± 0.01 on 9 point hedonic scale. MGSS vermicelli was most acceptable by the panel members than the other counterparts. WWF, MWF and MGSS contained moisture 6.9 to 7.7%, protein 9.3 to 13.5%, fat 1.2-2.7%, ash 2.9 to 5.8%, crude fibre 2.2 to 2.4%, carbohydrates 69.8 to 75.2% and energy 344 to 362 kcal/100 g respectively. MGSS vermicelli was highest in protein content (13.5%) while energy content was high in WWF. MWF vermicelli had highest amount of total (8.91%), reducing (2.41%) and non-reducing sugars (6.57%). Quality of protein was improved by mutual supplementation of amino acid. Regarding minerals, higher contents of sodium (100 mg), calcium (30 mg), iron (5.9 mg), zinc (1.4 mg) were found in MGSS. Vermicelli could be safely stored for 2 months period at room temperature (25-30 °C).