International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences Impact Factor ~ 1.021

Nutrient dense instant porridge was prepared with flours from corn, whole wheat, malted finger millet, sprouted whole green gram, soy protein isolates, unsalted roasted peanuts, dairy whitener and dried papaya in different ratios to make the multi-nutrient mix. Processing parameters viz. Flour Concentration (FC):10-20%, Sugar Concentration (SC): 50-75% and Cooking Time (CT): 1-5 min were optimized for development of porridge from multi-nutrient mix. Significant (p<0.05) second order model predicted the optimized condition for the porridge as FC: 17.9%, SC: 69% and CT: 1.8min. The water absorption index (2.5 g/unit g sample) and water solubility index (20.8%) was higher for multi-nutrient flour mix as compared to wheat flour (2.3 g/unit g sample and 8.3%) indicating better porridge forming ability.Response surface methodology showed that FC, SC and CT significantly affected the organoleptic quality, textural and rheological properties of porridge. Among the three process parameters, FC and CT had the most significant effect on evaluated porridge quality parameters. Fat and protein content of optimized porridge (OP) was significantly higher and particle size significantly lower than the control wheat porridge (CWP) indicating an improved capacity of the nutrients to be absorbed by the body. Porridges showed shear-thinning behavior and apparent viscosity values at all shear rates were higher for OP than CWP. From rheological studies it was observed that mean apparent viscosity and yield stress was lower for OP due to significant difference in the particle size and particle size distribution of the two samples. Both the porridge samples were comparable on account of storage modulus, loss modulus and complex viscosity.