Evaluation of Nutrient Content in Chikkies Developed from Popped Little Millet

Aim The present study aimed at making the millets available to people in ready-to-eat form with some enhanced nutritional properties. Little millet (Panicumsumatrense) was selected for this purpose as this millet has been mostly neglected by research groups addressing millets from around the world. Little millet was popped like popcorn to make it available in a ready-to-eat snack format. Objectives Developing Popped little millet chikkies by using Popped little millet. Determining the nutritive value of Popped little millet chikkies Materials and Methods Popped little millet chikkies were made by using the traditional standard recipe. Ingredients such as Popped little millet, roasted Bengal gram, groundnuts, gingelly seeds, and jaggery were selected to prepare the popped little millet chikkies. Little millet was popped by using a particulate medium (salt). Results and Discussion A sudden and marked improvement in iron content from 8.9 mg in native millet to 18.7 mg in popped millet was noticed. It was deduced the study that popping was the best method in improving iron availability.