Material balance of the process involved in preparation of green banana flour is an important aspect to be overlooked. Unripe green banana flour prepared by pretreatment of banana slices with sodium metabisulphite followed by cabinet drying method, produced a flour with fairly white colour, good nutritive value and also yield was about 26 per cent. Proximate composition and functional properties such as bulk density, water absorption capacity, swelling capacity, foaming capacity, emulsification capacity and rehydration characteristics of prepared banana flour were determined. Also cost of production of banana flour was about Rs. 9.50/100g which is much less than any other advanced processing technique and is quite affordable.

The effect of guar and acacia gum blend at different concentrations viz., 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 per cent on the physicochemical, sensory properties and rheology of yogurt were studied. It was observed that the setting time of the yoghurt reduced with increased concentration of blend gum. The viscosity of samples containing blend gum increased compared to the control sample. As increase in levels of blend gum, the per cent synersis was noticed in decreased trend. No marked change in pH and acidity of yoghurt was recorded irrespective added of blend gum and their concentration. As level of blend gum concentration increased the total solid content was found increased. Sensory evaluation showed that the use of blend gum upto 0.2 per cent concentration improved body and texture of the product. Being hydrocolloid nature the blend gum improved the consistency and reduced whey separation in yoghurt.

Wheat grains were sprouted for 24 and 48 h, and cereal-legume fl our blend (sprouted wheat fl our and defa ed soybean fl our in the ratio of 80:20) was used to produce extruded product. Eff ect of addition of sprouted wheat fl our on quality characteristics of extruded product showed that the expansion ratio of the extrudates made from sprouted wheat fl our for 48 h was signifi cantly (P<0.05) higher (3.41) than that of sprouted wheat fl our (3.36) for 24 h and sound wheat fl our (3.28). However, the bulk density of the extrudates prepared from sound wheat fl our was signifi cantly higher (0.18 g/ml) than that of sprouted wheat fl our (0.16 and 0.13 g/ml for sprouted wheat for 24 h and 48 h, respectively). Both expansion ratio and bulk density were indicative of the expansion. The extrudates having higher expansion ratio showed lower bulk density and vice versa.

Use of hydrocolloids in low calorie flavoured milk beverages is their ability to modify the rheology with acceptable mouthfeel and improve consistency and prevent sedimentation of cocoa particles of chocolate flavoured milk by incorporation of guar and acacia gum blend at 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 per cent. Chocolate flavoured milk was subjected to sensory analysis using 9 point hedonic scale. Addition of guar and acacia gum blend decreased the score of colour and flavour where as increased sensory score of mouth feel and consistency and decreased creaming index which ranged from (24 to 08 per cent). It was noted that as addition of guar and acacia gum blend increased the viscosity. Blend of 0.4 per cent gum was found overall acceptable and recorded 58.8 cp and 41.5 cp viscosity which was found to be suitable viscosities to prepare the better quality chocolate flavoured milk.

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