Nutritional implications and flour functionality of popped/expanded horse gram

Utilization of horse gram and its flour in legume composite flours and products is limited due to the presence of antinutritional components, poor functional and expansion properties. Enzymatic treatment was used to improve the expansion and functional properties of horse gram to facilitate its use as an ingredient in food processing. Xylanase-mediated depolymerization of cell wall polysaccharides of horse gram lead to the development of a new expanded/popped horse gram. Expansion process of enzyme treated horse gram resulted in increased length (5.3–6.8 mm) and higher yield of expanded grains (63–98%). The expanded horse gram had lower bulk density, higher protein digestibility and more resistant starch compared to the control raw grains. Dietary fibre content of raw and processed horse gram was in the range of 14.57–16.14%. High temperature short time (HTST) conditions used during expansion process lowered the levels of phytic acid, tannins and protease inhibitors by 46%, 61% and 92%, respectively. The flour obtained from xylanase treated and expanded horse gram had higher water (204.3 g/100 g) and oil absorption capacities (98.4 g/100 g) than unprocessed flour, which had 135.8 g/100 g and 74.6 g/100 g, respectively at ambient conditions. There was a decrease in foaming capacity and foam stability in expanded gram flour. However, emulsion stability increased significantly in the processed samples. Thus, the study indicated that nutritional value and flour functionality of horse gram could be improved by processing it into a new expanded product that can be used as an ingredient in food processing.