Food-to-Food Fortification of Rice Flour (Swarna Cv.) Using Dried Basil, Marjoram, and Spearmint Leaves Powders: A Physicochemical and Nutritional Study

Abstract

Food-to-food fortification (FtFF) is an emerging technique used to enrich nutrient-deficient foods by adding foods with relatively high amounts of one or more than one type of micro- and macronutrients. The dried leaves of herbs such as basil, marjoram, and spearmint have excellent nutritional properties. These can fortify staple raw materials such as rice flour (RF) to produce gluten-free fortified products. Thus, in this study, an attempt was made to find the effect of these dried herbs on the physicochemical and nutritional properties of RF with skim milk powder (SMP) (3% w/w) already added at different fortification levels (FLs) (1–4% w/w). The physicochemical and nutritional properties viz., water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), oil absorption capacity (OAC), water absorption capacity (WAC), solubility (SL), iron (Fe), and proximate analysis were calculated. Results showed insignificant (p > 0.05) changes in all physicochemical properties at 1% addition of marjoram, spearmint, and basil as compared to the control. Further, an insignificant (p > 0.05) increase in WAI was noticed at 2% addition of marjoram, spearmint, and basil. Similar, no significant (p > 0.05) change in WAI was noticed up to the highest FL in all fortificants. An opposite behavior was observed with the WSI for marjoram; however, no significant (p > 0.05) change was observed with spearmint among all FLs. In addition, basil at 4% fortification caused a significant (p < 0.05) increase in WSI as compared to control. For WAC, neither marjoram nor spearmint resulted in any significant (p > 0.05) change among all FLs but basil at 4% showed a significant (p < 0.05) change. A similar result was noticed for SL. Nevertheless, a significant (p < 0.05) color change was observed at all FLs. The iron, protein, and crude fiber levels were significant (p < 0.05) and they all improved at 4% fortification. A similar result was noticed for carbohydrate, energy, and crude fat levels with a higher FL. This study will help food processors to formulate fortified foods using dried herbs.