Quality Characteristics of Finger Millet Based Baby Food Preparation as Affected by Its Varieties and Processing Tecniques

Indian diets are predominantly cereal based. Millets once the staple food for poor rural people, are now being steadily replaced by wheat and rice. Finger Millet contains highest levels of calcium among cereals. It is also a good source of iron, phosphorus and the amino acid- methionine. The present study was undertaken to develop nutritious and instant baby food from light and dark coloured (PRM 9802 and Pant madua 3) varieties of finger millet using different processing techniques i.e., roasting and malting. The baby food was prepared from the combination of finger millet (roasted/malted), roasted wheat flour, roasted green gram flour and skimmed milk powder in 30:30:25:15 ratios. The baby food prepared from finger millet after roasting exhibited higher content of protein, calcium and iron but low in vitro protein digestibility as compared to malted finger millet. Viscosity of malted weaning gruel was lower than roasted for both the varieties. Sensory quality of weaning gruel was not significantly affected by processing techniques but there was significant difference for acceptability between varieties. While weaning laddoo showed significant difference for acceptability only between two varieties.