Cooking and Sensory Attributes of Homemade Noodle

Science and technology in today era is exploring the possibilities of keeping the phrase “Let food be thy Medicineâ€. Compared to staple cereals rice and wheat, millets are termed as ’Nutri cereals’ that have high proportion of non-starchy polysaccharides and dietary fiber and has low glycemic index. Pearl millet is a drought tolerant crop cultivated in most parts of Africa and Asia, has high level of calcium, iron, zinc, lipids and good quality protein. Noodles are one of the most popular foods in the world; it ranks second after bread in the global consumption. Generally noodles are prepared using refined wheat flour and studies have shown the enrichment of noodles with wheat flour and millets, green leafy vegetables and others vegetables etc. In this study an attempt was taken to prepare homemade noodles by replacing the refined wheat flour totally with wheat flour and pearl millet flour. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is processed into flour and substituted with wheat flour in five different proportions 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30 and 80:20. The formulated blends were used in the production of noodles and their cooking characteristics such as water absorption, swelling index and cooking loss were found. And the formulated noodles were further subjected to sensory evaluation by the panel of 30 members. The result showed that the noodles prepared with blend of wheat flour (60 per cent) and pearl millet flour (40 per cent) is found to be the most commonly accepted blend in both dry and cooked noodles. Hence pearl millet flour noodles will be a promising substitute when compared with commercial noodles in quality, taste and flavor.