Development and nutritional evaluation of pumpkin seed (Cucurbita moschata) supplemented products

Abstract

Pumpkin seeds are nutritionally dense food but commonly discarded as waste. Keeping in view the economic and nutritional benefits of pumpkin seeds, the products supplemented with them can be incorporated in daily diet to enhance the nutritional status of people. Due to the high prevalence of malnutrition and iron deficiency anaemia in children and women, the present study was aimed at the development and nutritional evaluation of food products supplemented with pumpkin seeds. Food products namely Laddoo, Panjeeri and Mathi were developed using standardized recipes with different levels of pumpkin seed flour in raw and roasted form. These products were organoleptically evaluated by a trained panel of 12 judges using nine point hedonic rating scale. Nutritional evaluation was also carried out to draw comparison between the developed products and its control (0% supplementation) counterpart. Results revealed that 30% supplementation of pumpkin seed flour (raw and roasted) in all the products is most acceptable. The supplemented products were found to have higher protein (8.97 to 12.07%), fat (31.55 to 45.56%), fibre (2.04 to 3.21%), ash (1.69 to 2.55%), iron (2.50 to 3.29mg/100g) and zinc (1.45 to 2.08mg/100g) content as compared to the control (0% supplementation). Moreover addition of pumpkin seed flour resulted in significant increase in the total carotenoid content (0.090 to 0.370meq/ kg) and antioxidant activity (59.10 to 74.20%) of the supplemented products.