DEVELOPMENT OF FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGE FROM UNDERUTILIZED MULTIGRAINS (PEARL MILLET, FINGER MILLET AND SORGHUM)

ABSTRACT Consumers are increasingly demanding healthier and natural foods made from whole grains which necessitate development of functional foods from locally grown crops. Millet are highly nutritional and they contain some bioactive compounds with some health benefits yet are mostly underutilized. Hence, this study aimed to developed a multigrain functional beverage using locally available underutilized grains (pearl millet, finger millet and sorghum). Pearl millet and sorghum used for this study were procured from Ogbomosho, Oyo State while Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) was obtained from Jos, Plateau State. All the grains were weighed, sorted and cleaned to remove extraneous materials. Different formulations of the grains were then obtained using Simplex Lattice Design type with 14 Runs. The optimized sample was used to generate different blends, 100:0:0; 75:25:0; 50:0:50; 50:50:0; 50:25:25 and 75:0:25 for pearl millet, sorghum and finger millet respectively. The grains were soaked separately for 72 h, they were wet milled using local milling machine with the addition of spices, ginger, clove sieved. The slurries were fermented for 24 h at ambient temperature, using natural Flora fermentation. The mixture was then divided into two parts. One part of the slurry was boiled and the other part was set aside. The uncooked slurry was mixed with the boiled one after cooling to 50 °C. Water (500 ml) and sugar (200 g) were added to obtain the desired thickness and taste. The beverage samples were analyzed for Physico-chemical properties (pH, titratable acidity, viscosity, total soluble solid), Proximate (moisture and ash) In-vitro starch digestibility, Anti- nutritional factors (tannin, phytate, oxalate, saponin,), Microbial enumeration, Anti-oxidant activity (Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)). Flavonoid and phenol contents were also determined and the beverages were subjected to sensory analysis. Data obtained were subjected to Analysis of Variance and means separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test at significance level of p