Standardization and Stabilization of Millet Milk by Enzyme and Its Physicochemical Evaluation

Millets are nutritionally rich and occupy an important place in the diet of people in many regions of the world. Although millets are nutritionally superior to cereals, their utilization as a food is mostly confined to the traditional consumers. So, the present study was undertaken to standardize millet milk from barnyard millet, little millet, kodo millet and finger millet by enzymatic extraction method. Aqueous extract of millet milk was treated with α amylase and pasteurized at 75ºC for 15 minutes. The pasteurized millet milk was evaluated for physical and nutritional parameters. Results showed that the physical properties of developed millet milk have met the requirement of plant-based milk in terms of viscosity (2.32±0.02 to 2.82±0.03). Protein content of millet milk varied from 1.38±.0.03 to 1.12±.0.02 g. Total polyphenols (205.72±0.13 mg/100 ml) and total antioxidant activity (81.64±1.77%) were high for finger millet milk and total flavonoid content was high for barnyard millet milk (96.25±1.88 mg/100 ml). Enzymatic treatment significantly reduced the anti-nutritional factor (phytic acid, tannin and trypsin inhibitor activity) content in millet milk. The enzymatically developed product had high In vitro protein (69.28±0.28 to 85.57±1.39%) and starch digestibility (69.75±0.56 to 63.36±0.12 mg maltose/g). From the results, it was concluded that the current approach provides a convenient way for the production of nutritionally sound millet milk at the household and industrial level.