This study aimed to develop nutritionally enriched pasta using tender jackfruit flour, finger millet (ragi), and durum wheat flour. A Central Composite Design under Response Surface Methodology was employed to optimize the formulation with respect to cooking quality and sensory attributes. Pretreated jackfruit flour with 0.2% potassium metabisulfite (KMS) exhibited better color (L* = 73.2, a* = −0.9, b* = 13.8) retention as compared to the fresh sample. The optimized level was found to be (X1 , tender jackfruit flour 5 g, X2 , ragi flour 25 g, and X3 , durum wheat flour 75 g), resulting in pasta with desirable qualities: cooked weight of 23.71 g, cooking loss (9.2%), water absorption (128.57%), and high overall acceptability (7.78). Compared with the control, the optimized pasta exhibited higher fiber content, antioxidant activity (68.41% DPPH), phenolic content (61.13 mg GAE/100g), and vitamin C (10.36 mg/100g). The findings of this study emphasized jackfruit and ragi as functional ingredients that contribute to value-added, health-oriented pasta with improved nutritional and sensory attributes.
Kardile et al. (Wed,) studied this question.