Development and Characterization of Chickpea Based Meal Replacement Beverage Mix

Abstract

With the changing lifestyles, people are looking for timesaving, healthy, on the go convenient meals. Home meal replacement is an alternative for the people who do not have time to cook and depend mainly on convenient foods. Thus, products such as breakfast cereals, protein bars, shakes, and powdered beverage mixes are increasing in demand as they are easy to carry and store. Meal replacement products (MRPs) have been defined under different categories like functional foods or foods for special purpose in different countries. MRPs refers to the food products that can be used to replace one or two regular meals. Thus, the present study was carried out on development and characterization of chickpea-based meal replacement beverage mix, with specified objectives. newlineChickpea is an important pulse crop as it is an economical source of protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, unsaturated fatty acids, and bioactive compounds. It is a rich source of dietary fiber and has a low glycaemic index. Chickpea presents the possibility to meet the demand for food security and can be a suitable source of plant- based protein. The vegetarian population is mainly dependent on pulses for their protein requirement. Pulses in combination with cereals are widely consumed as a staple diet in developing countries. This combination maintains the essential amino acid balance. Chickpea is generally consumed after processing like soaking, germination, cooking or as a snack in the form of roasted chickpea. In present study, chickpea was used in the form of germinated chickpea flour (GCPF) and roasted chickpea flour (RCPF). newline