Abstract
Indian traditional dishes make use of Nigella sativa seeds because of its distinctive aroma and taste but its application is restricted due to its pungent flavour which can be overcome by various methods of processing such as roasting, soaking, germination etc. Soaking and germination has a positive impact on the nutritional, sensorial and phytochemical attributes of Nigella sativa. The current study was carried out to standardize the optimum soaking and germination conditions with improved nutritional, sensorial and phytochemical attributes of seeds. Nigella sativa seeds were soaked for different time duration (0 hr, 6 hr, 12 hr and 18 hr) followed bygermination for0, 7, 9 and 11 days. The soaked and germinated samples were exposed to a temperature of 50ºC for drying till the constant moisture was obtained and analysed for various physiochemical, nutritional and sensory attributes. All the attributes under study were significantly affected by soaking and germination as compared to the control. Comparatively, except the moisture content all the phytochemicals and nutritional attributes decreased significantly from the control sample. Based on the qualitative attributes, soaking done for 18 hours along with 9th day of germination was observed to be the best and can be considered as the optimum condition to maintain the phytochemical to the safe level as well as reducing the antinutritional factors which can further be used for value addition.
Highlights
Black cumin (Nigella sativa) known as “Kalonji” in South Asian countries, is a good source of nutritionally essential components including proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids and appreciable amount of minerals.[1]
Its pungency is an obstacle in its way of utilization in food industry which can be decreased by various food processing methods including roasting, soaking, germination etc
Soaking and germination decreased the ash content from 2.72 ± 0.02% to 2.44 ± 0.02% which might be due to the leaching of the minerals in the soaked water with increasing time duration.[14]
Summary
Black cumin (Nigella sativa) known as “Kalonji” in South Asian countries, is a good source of nutritionally essential components including proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids and appreciable amount of minerals.[1] It contains variety of health beneficial ingredients, including thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, dithymoquinone, p-cymene, carvacrol, thymol etc. Which regards Nigella sativa seed as a valuable remedy for a number of ailments including asthma, bronchitis, rheumatism and related inflammatory diseases.[2] Due to its unique composition it possesses the pungent flavour and utilized traditionally in wide range of food products such as pickles, coffee, bread recipes etc.[3] Recently researchers took a shift to utilize these seeds by incorporating them in various food products such as tea, coffee, pickles, bread recipes and savoury dishes.[3] But its pungency is an obstacle in its way of utilization in food industry which can be decreased by various food processing methods including roasting, soaking, germination etc. The present study was carried out to fulfill the research gap
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