Abstract:
To encourage translational and value added product development of endemic and underutilized horticultural produces, current Ph.D. thesis is targets upon a robust experimental and design methodology to formulate and characterize leafy and non-leafy vegetable based mix soup recipes with high nutritional content in terms of proximate, vitamin C and antioxidant activity characteristics. The targeted leafy and non-leafy vegetables in the thesis includes Kolmou (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.), Pui (Basella alba) and Jatialao sak (Lagenaria siceraria leaves) and Kolphul (Musa balbisiana Colla blossom), Kaskal (Musa splendida), green Komora (Benincasa hispida) and Posola (Musa balbisiana Colla pseudostem), respectively.
After ensuring a critical discussion with respect to available prior art, lacunae, objectives and thesis organization in Chapter 1, the adopted overall research methodology has been presented in Chapter 2 of the thesis. Thereafter, Chapter 3 addresses the comparative efficacy of tray and oven drying processes towards the chosen leafy vegetables in terms of the nutritional characteristics of the dried vegetable samples. Chapters 4 and 5 targets upon the optimization of process-product characteristics of the chosen leafy and non-leafy vegetables, respectively. Both trial and error and statistical design approaches have been addressed in these chapters. Thereafter, Chapters 6 and 7 address the findings associated to the optimal leafy and non-leafy vegetable mix constitution based on nutritional optimization and sensory analysis. Finally, Chapter 8 summarizes the subjective and objective conclusions of the Ph.D. thesis and possible directions for future research.
