The study was conducted on lotus rhizomes to find the kinetics of drying and ultrasound‐assisted extraction process of antioxidant, energy‐economic, quality parameters, and phytochemicals, under different drying processes. Midlli et al. model was found the best‐fitted drying model with a low SSerror (0.0145–0.0088), RMSE (0.02 to 0.005), and highest R2 (0.999 to 0.992) value. The energy consumption cost (1518.33 Rs) is high in tray dryers and low in microwave dryers (28.68 Rs). The vacuum‐dried lotus rhizomes had a high content of total phenolics of 78.364 mg/g, flavonoids of 10.819 mg/g (dm) content, DPPH of 74.621 μmol/g, ABTS of 104.36 μmol/g, and FRAP of 108.312 μmol/g. Low hardness (12.642 N), resilience (0.468), and high whiteness (61.158) were observed in freeze‐dried rhizomes. Microwave and vacuum drying were showing a short time drying process with better energy economy as well as higher antioxidant content, but quality parameters are best for a freeze‐drying product. Novelty impact statement The use of waste parts of plants as a source of functional food requires intensive study. Lotus rhizomes are edible and can have a vast range of applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The novelty of this study is that it explores different drying methods of lotus rhizomes and makes a comparative analysis of these methods based on their costs and effects. In addition, it also discusses the extraction of both free and bound phenolic compounds. The extraction of bound phenolic compounds increases the antioxidant content of the samples. Physicochemical properties (texture and color) of lotus rhizomes are also discussed in detail.

Ready supplementary food has been the best choice to arrest hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. To develop low-cost with high nutritious supplementary food with locally available ingredients those fill up the requirements of nutrients of Indians per day at different age groups according to recommended dietary allowance. To prevent malnutrition and keep children healthy, the ICDS center provides several foods, one of which is poushtic laddu, which is made with rice, wheat, groundnut, gram flour, and sugar. The women of the self-help group mainly make these nutritious laddu ingredients and provide them to the ICDS center. There are currently several ICDS centers offering poushtic powders made by CINI known as Nutrimix, which is advised to feed the children as laddu at home. This laddu powder lags far behind in terms of nutrition and phytochemicals, this is the reason for submitting the report to improve the quality of this laddu in terms of nutrition. Three different poushtic powders were prepared, marked as P, PC, and PI by healthy and nutritious food ingredients which are locally available in the market and environment. After experiments, it was found that P, PI, and PC are best for protein (28.315g), iron (23.77mg), and calcium (325.502mg) content respectively. A sufficient amount of macro and micronutrients is present in all types of poushtic powders. Phytochemicals like ascorbic acid, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, valinic acid, routine, trans-cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, apigenin, and kaempferol are found to be present. Antioxidant activity like FRAP (12.854µmol/gm), ABTS (19.217µmol/gm) and DPPH (19.167µmol/gm) high in PC sample. Every poushtic powder is good in one way or another. SEM determines morphology and particle size with a correlation with hardness and fineness. The shelf life of the products is determined by different types of storage containers. In this study cost of the three products is analyzed for product marketing. Locally available ingredients help to prepare the low cost with high healthy and nutritious ready to supplementary food products that improve human health and nutritional status. The innovation of poushtic powder is the production of a low-cost supplemental product using locally accessible, nutritionally fortified ingredients, allowing those from poor socioeconomic groups to benefit. At the same time, villagers have the potential to turn it into a small-scale company and profit from it in the future.

Black gram (Vigna mungo) nuggets are locally known as “bori” and are an indigenous food and are consumed widely in the Indian subcontinent. The objective of the work was to compare the mode of selected drying techniques (hot‐air, freeze, and microwave drying) on drying kinetics followed by the development of suitable mathematical modeling for the process. Additionally, the antioxidant, color, and textural properties of the dried nuggets were evaluated for their acceptability and associated health benefits. Based on regression parameters, it was found that the Page model fitted well (R2 = 0.99) with the experimental data when compared with other models. The effective moisture diffusivity exhibited an inverse relation to drying time. Among tested drying techniques, it was found that TB in microwave drying at 450 W had the highest amount of phenolic content (5.27 mg/g), flavonoid content (1.72 mg/100 g), ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (45.71 μmol/g), 61.42 μmol/g of ABTS assay, and 67.81 μmol/g of DPPH assay values. The freeze‐drying products were better for physicochemical parameters than other drying process products. The presence of phytochemicals was responsible for the high bioactivity of microwave‐dried nuggets.