Quality assessment of sweet snack from Garden cress ( Lepidium sativum L.) seeds—An unexplored health grain

Abstract

Garden cress seed (Lepidium sativum L.), an unexplored health grain, is a rich source of nutrients, nutraceuticals, and possess numerous health beneficial properties. Epidemiologically, it is known to have galactagogue properties and is traditionally utilized as a functional food ingredient by the lactating mothers. In present study, sweet snack was developed using garden cress seed to provide this underutilized grain in a convenience ready-to-eat form. The product contained 11.8% protein, 20.9% fat (44.3% monounsaturated and 39.5% polyunsaturated fatty acids), 12.7% total dietary fibers (67% soluble fiber), iron (3.9 mg/100 g), calcium (260.9 mg/100 g), and zinc (1.9 mg/100 g). Moisture sorption studies exhibited a characteristic sigmoid curve which depicted 56% relative humidity and corresponding equilibrium moisture content 5.7%, are critical to the product with moisture tolerance of 2.2%. Sensory score revealed a shelf life of 4 months for the crunchy product with an initial breaking strength of 97.8 N under ambient storage condition. Practical applications Today's consumers are well aware of benefits of consuming a healthy diet, and hence, demand for health-snacks is rapidly increasing. This necessitates the food industries to explore newer natural plant source of functional ingredients. Garden cress (Gc) seeds are known to possess various health benefits, especially as lactogenic properties due to the high content of nutrients, nutraceuticals, and plant sterols. Hence, it is a potential source of desirable functional ingredient for the development of health-snack. Therefore, in this study sensory acceptable, nutritious, and crunchy ready-to-eat sweet snack using garden cress seeds was developed with adequate storage life, which can serve as a vehicle to disseminate this unexplored health grain. The result of this study is useful for production of healthy snacks from lesser known garden cress seed which is more suitable for the lactating mother.