Process Improvement To Enhance The Nutritional Quality Of Indian Fermented Food (gundruk)

Transcript

act: Gundruk is an important fermented vegetable food in the local diet of the Sikkim Himalayas which is prepared at individual household. Present study improves the preservation and nutritional value of a traditional fermented food – Gundruk by various dehydration processes. The raw materials used for the preparation of gundruk are rich in carotenes and vitamin C. Carotene content per 100 gram of the cabbage is 120 microgram, radish leaves is 13000 micro gram and mustard leaves is 2622 microgram. Vitamin C content of cabbage is 124 mg and radish leaves is 106 mg. During the traditional process of gundruk fermentation, there is 90% loss in carotenes and most of the vitamin C is also lost. This is mainly due to sun drying of the fermented leaves. Improved methods of drying might reduce the vitamin loss. The study concludes that introduction of gundruk can be taken up as a new product development which will not only confer nutritional benefits to the people but also help in utilizing the otherwise wasted vegetable leaves and can be introduced globally.