Abstract:

Drumstick tree is a miracle source of phytonutrients in the drought prone areas of tropical and subtropical countries. With the emphasis to increase adoption of immature drumstick pods at homestead level, this study was planned to assess the effect of different cooking methods on vitamins (β-carotene; Rangana, 1995) & Ascorbic acid: AOAC 2000), minerals (iron & calcium; AOAC 2000) and antinutritional factors (phytates; Haug and Lantzsch, 1983, total phenols; AOAC method 2000, and oxalates; Abeza et al, 1968).  The findings of present study revealed that all the cooking methods led significant decrease (p≤0.01) in nutrients and antinutritional factors of immature drumstick pods except total phenols . In all cooking methods, sauteing resulted in higher retention of β-carotene, iron, calcium and antinutritional factors in immature drumstick pods. In wet cooking methods, both microwave cooking and pressure cooking were found to preserve more nutrients in immature drumstick pods than boiling and blanching. Key words: immature drumstick pods, cooking methods, nutrient retention

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