Effect of processing treatments on digestibility and physicochemical properties of ready‐to‐cook breakfast mixes

Increasing metabolic disorders and changing lifestyles have created an increased demand for healthy convenience food, especially breakfast. The study aims to identify an ideal processing method to formulate a ready-to-cook savory wheat (Dalia) porridge with reduced starch digestibility and enriched protein and fiber content. Pressure cooking (WP), autoclaving (WA), drum drying (WD), flaking (WF), and toasting (WT) were adopted for instantization. The energy distribution was as per the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association. Processing resulted in reduced cooking time, changes in color parameters, increased water absorption, and solubility. Complete gelatinization of starch was observed in all samples except WA and WT. Resistant starch content increased in all samples (8.95-16.70 g/100 g) except WD and WT. The estimated glycemic Index (eGI) ranged from 65.8 to 54.8, with maximum eGI shown by WD and minimum by WA. Increase in vitro protein digestibility 5%-10% was observed. All the porridge showed good sensory characteristics and acceptability. Practical applications Breakfast is considered as a crucial meal of the day in a healthy lifestyle. Skipping or consuming a nutritionally imbalanced hunger sufficing breakfasts has been increasing due to changing work cultures and time lack for cooking which is attributed to increasing metabolic diseases. Thus, the development of a healthy convenience breakfast has acquired great attention. In this study, the interaction between protein, fiber, starch, and fat has been utilized in formulating a low GI ready-to-cook (RTC) breakfast mix with the energy distribution as suggested by the American Diabetic Association for diabetes. The RTC breakfast mix with modulated eGI will cater to the needs of diabetic, obese, and elderly population. The product will have good compliance, as it is prepared with the staple ingredients and GI is modulated using natural ingredients and can be scaled up with minimum operating steps for commercial application as there are very few products in the market.