Study on Fortified Madhuca longifolia (MAHUA)

Abstract:
Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) occupies important place in the diet and economy of
tribal people. It belongs to Sapotaceae family. In India, It is found in the states of UP,
Madhya , orissa, Jharkhand, Chattishgarh, Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West
Bengal & Karnatka. Every part of Mahua tree is used by the tribal for their livelihood. However
now a days it is losing its importance as food due to Urbanization, Lack of value addition
technologies and changing food preferences. At present the most popular use of Mahua is in
liquor making, due to its high sugar content. Its leaves and bark is used as medicine by tribals
to cure different type of diseases. Mahua flower is big source of nutrients like, Protein,
Vitamins, Carbohydrate, Minerals, Enzymes & organic acids. Lack of knowledge of value added
technology related to their diversified use results in distress sell. Keeping this in view an
attempt was made to popularize its diversified use for higher income as well as food security
orientation. For this an on farm trial was conducted for technology assessment and
refinement.
The Technology is related to pickle was demonstrated among 20 families spread
over 20 villages. For conducting OFT, three technology options were selected. TO1- Farmers
Practice (sell of Raw Mahua); TO2-Value addition of Mahua flower by Making Pickle. Pre
treatment of Mahua flower was done before making Pickle . Sensory evaluation was done on
five point scale and chemical analysis was done by standard method. pickle was liked
extremely by the farm women. However, pickle was preferred due to higher B:C ratio and
shelf life. product contain appreciable amount of nutritional value. Food use of Mahua flower
can be revived by disseminating cost effective value addition technology and has potential to
be promoted for rural entrepreneurship.
 Introduction:
Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) occupies important place in the diet and economy of
tribal people. The corolla of Mahua flowers are edible and form as important constituent of
tribal diet. It is an multipurpose forest tree, more than 70 % of tribal population is engaged in
collection, drying and selling Mahua flower. It is an important tree found largely in Santhal
Pargana area of Jharkhand. It is also found in UP, Madhya Pradesh, orissa, Chattishgarh,
Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal & Karnatka. The tree is considered a
boon for the tribals who are forest dwellers and keenly conserve this tree.
The flowers of the tree which have a unique fragrance use to produce alcohol and
provide livelihood to thousands of people. There are multipurpose uses of Mahua flower and
also used as a herbal medicines. It is a primary source of tribal house hold for four months of a
year. However, now days it is losing its importance as food due to urbanization, lack of value
addition technologies and changing food preferences. At present the most popular use of
Mahua is liquor making. Lack of knowledge of value added technologies related to their
diversified use results in distress sell. It is also an effort to make people divert to hazardous
use liquor to value added product. Keeping this in view an attempt was made to popularize its
diversified use for higher income as well as food security orientation.
 Aims and objectives:

Objectives:
 To prepare consumer acceptable and best quality Maduca Longifolia Pickle
suitable for all age groups.
 To study physiochemical and sensory properties of Maduca Longifolia Pickle.
 To do comparative study of Pickle made from mustard oil and sunflower oil.
Aims:

 Pickles are used as a side ingredient that acts as an appetizer and it adds up
the flavor a lot.

 Flower of plants are edible and have high nutritive value . majorly high amount of
sugar and subsequently having good amount of vitamins , minerals ,and fats,

 The medicinal properties which are seen in this plant are stimulant, demulcent,
emollient, healing skin diseases, rheumatism, headache, laxative, piles..

 Mahua flowers are used traditionally as a remedy of many diseases by tribal people.

 A pickle prepared from the flowers is given as a supplemental treatment in

tuberculosis among the tribal inhabitants of eastern Bihar.
 Relevance of project:
Pandhre G.R.et al 2011
-From this research article we got information about soaking method for ragi. As
they mentioned germination decreases antinutritional factor and increases
nutritional factor. They figure out two methods for drying in sun-drying and
infrared drying. Due to nutritional losses in case of infrared drying method we
select sun drying for our products.

Piyush Mishra et al 2016

- In this article they did comparative study on ginger powder with wheat flour. In
contrast with ginger powder with refined wheat flour to enhance its nutritional
value. They made four samples out of them they found their third sample best which
contains 97% of refined wheat flour and 3 % of ginger powder. Consuming ginger
powder decreases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and overall mortality
while promoting a healthy complexion and hair, increased energy and overall lower
weight. Because of their properties we use ginger as flavouring agent in pasta.

Radhika et al 2018
-They undertaken study od development of gluten free processed food, i.e cookies,
pasta by incorporating gluten free product like finger millet, pearl millet, soyabean
and groundnut. They formulate both products in different proportion and took
their sensory evaluation by 9 hedonic scale. So due to various nutritional factor
millet we use in production of pasta and follow 9 hedonic scale method.

Shanooba palamthodi et al 2020

- This research investigation was conducted to analyse the nutritional and
functional properties of wheat, ragi, jackfruit seed composite flour. From this 3
ingredients we selected wheat for our product as base flour and because of its
nutritional factors i.e carbohydrates, protein, fat, etc.

Natraja R S et al 2018
- Here they aimed to study and developed multigrain pasta by partially substituting
wheat flour with maize, soybean, Bengal gram and fortified the sprouts grain. How
to use combinations of flour is mentioned in this article. They use single die
extruder or cold extruder, so we had tried to use cold extruder.
Material and method:

Hygienic collection :

The established practice of collection of Mahua flower is that once the flower falls
on the ground they are swept by using broom and collected. This results in the collection of
impurities along with the flowers.
In order to avoid contamination of the collection of Mahua flower netting is tied
and pegged under the tree to avoid flowers falling on the ground as per usual practice and
then collection of Mahua flowers often they set on the net.

Pre-processing treatment :

Pre processing treatment was introduced which consists of washing, manual

removal of stamens and blanching with preservatives. The pre-processed material was then
dried using shade drying technique. Removal of stamen from Mahua flower by manually with
hands or by Machines.
Dehydration was done in shade drying on trays as well as on black sheets under
shade netting. Sensory evaluation and organoleptic acceptability was assessed by five point
scale that included sensory attribution taste, appearance, colour, flavor & acceptance. To
study the shelf life of pickle, sensory evaluation was conducted by scoring taste.

Preparation of Mahua flower :

Blanching: 120gm of mahua flower blanched in 500ml of water for 3 min at
room temperature. Drain out excess water with the help of wire mesh

Dehydration: Drying was done for one day in sun drying to enhance taste of final
product, till 7-12% moisture remain in mahua. Finally the mahua flower is ready for
making pickle.

Sensory analysis: The panellist for sensory evaluation includes 8 people. The
panellist were selected from all age groups from 5 years to 60 years. They were semi
trained for evaluation. Pickle were serve to them, they mark colour, aroma taste,
texture and overall acceptability of the product on the basis of 9 hedonic scale
ranging from 1 to 9.

Nutritional analysis:

Ash content- Pickle sample was left inside muffle furnace for 700- 8000C for 5
hours. Sample were placed in desicator for cooling, noted the weight of crucible.
% of ash= weight of ash/ Initial weight of oven dried sample*100
Moisture content- Determination of moisture content was done by oven drying
method (AOAC, 2005). Analysis were done at 1050C for overnight heating, then
sample were cooled in decicator, weight were note.
% of moisture content(wb)= (initial weight of sample – dry weight of sample)/ initial
weight of sample *100

Fat content- Fat content was determined by soxilate method, by taking 3g of sample
in each soxilate tube.
% of fat= W1-W0/ Weight of sample taken*100

Crude fiber- The Henneberg- stomann method was followed to determine crude
fiber percentage.
% of crude fiber= loss of weight/weight of sample*100

Determination of carbohydrate- Total carbohydrate contain can calculate by many

methods rather than analysing it.
% of carbohydrate= 100-( protein+fat+fiber+moisture+ash)

Protein content- AOAC method 6.25 (2005) method was followed to determine the
protein content in Mahua Pickle. There are 3 steps for finding protein %, Digestion,
Distillation, Titration followed by calculation,
% nitrogen= Titrate valur*N*0.014/weight of sample*100
% of protein= % nitrogen*6.25
Here 0.014 is milliequivalent weight of N2.
 Flowsheet:

MAHUA FLOWER(120gm)

REMOVAL OF STIGMA

BLANCHING

SUNDRYING
(FOR ONE DAY)

HEATING OIL

COOLING OF OIL

MIXING OF SPICES IN OIL

MIXING WITH PIECES

FILLING IN JAR

STORAGE
 Procedure:
 Different samples of Pickle have prepared (p1, p2) using
different types of oil .
 Removal of stigma,blanching and sundrying takes one day.
 After sundrying we take sunflower and mustard oil .
 Heating of 150ml of oil.
 After cooling of oil & addition of spices , and added mahua flowers and
mix thoroughly.
 5 g of sample prepare for nutritional analysis and for sensory- evaluation
70gm sample.
 Pickle had packed in plastic container.

Product code SUNFLOWER OIL % MUSTARD OIL %

P1 .

P2

P3

P4

P5
 Observation:
Sensory evaluation depends on the 9point hedonic scale
Grade Score

Like extremely 09

Like very much 08

Like moderately 07

Like slightly 06

Neither like or dislike 05

Dislike slightly 04

Dislike moderately 03

Dislike very much 02

Dislike extremely 01

Prepare 5 samples of multigrain pasta p1, p2, p3, p4, p5.

Sample 1 colour flavour Taste Texture Overall

(p1) acceptability

1st 7.3 7.5 6.5 6.9 7.4

2nd 7.6 7.2 6.9 6.1 6.7

3rd 6.8 6.9 7.3 6.6 6.8

4th 7.1 7.6 7.6 7.2 7.5

5th 7.9 7.4 7.2 6.8 7.0

 Total observation of sample 1 compare with 9-point hedonic scale.

parameter Total sensory Grade
evaluation
colour Like moderately 7
Flavour Like moderately 7
Taste Like moderately 7
Texture Like slightly 6
Overall acceptability Like moderately 7

 Sample 2
Sample 2 colour Flavour Taste Texture Overall
(p2) acceptability

1st 7.1 7.1 6.7 7.5 7.5

2nd 7.4 7.5 5.8 6.7 6.3

3rd 6.7 6.5 6.6 6.3 6.5

4th 6.5 7.2 6.5 6.5 7.3

5th 5.8 6.9 6.4 7.2 6.9

 Total observation of sample 2 compare with 9 hedonic scale

Parameter Total sensory Grade
evaluation
Colour Like slightly 6

Flavour Like moderately 7

Taste Like slightly 6

Texture Like slightly 6

Like slightly 6
 Total observation of sample 4 compare with 9 hedonic scale

Parameter Total sensory Grade

evaluation
Colour Like very much 8

Flavour Like very much 8

Taste Like extremely 9

Texture Like very much 8

Overall acceptability Like very much 8

 Result:
In this research project, different properties of composite flour wear analysed. The
proximate analysis composition includes protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, ash and minerals.
The moisture range of product is 7.4% for 60% wheat flour, 30% ragi flour and 10% of rice
flour sample. According to FSSAI moisture should not be more than 12.5% in fortified flour.
The ash content was 0.86% because of ragi and ginger powder, it gives highest percentage
and it is less than 2% which is accepted by FSSAI. The percentage of carbohydrates increase
because of wheat flour. The percentage of crude fibre is also increased due to addition of
ragi and wheat flour. The sample shows highest nutritional value as compare to other
products in market. From the functional properties of sample we determined application
and end use of composite flour. So we decided to prepare extruded product pasta from
fortified composite flour, the nutritional comparison between sample product and market
product mention below. Nutritional analysis of pasta contain protein, fat, ash,
carbohydrate, fibre.
parameters % per 100 gm

Protein 10.16

Fat 6.00

Ash 0.86

Carbohydrate 70.84

Fibre 3.20

Minerals 8.94

Nutritional chart of sunflower Mahua pickle (Table 1)

 Parameters % Per 100 gm

Protein 12.0

Fat 7.00

Ash -

Carbohydrate 70

Fibre -

Minerals -

Nutritional chart of mustard mahua pickle (Table 2)

By comparing 2 tables, we got clear idea about mahua pickle. It has proved that
mustard mahua pickleis more nutritious than sunflower mahua pickle.

Sample 1 (p1) Sample 2 (p2) Sample 3 (p3)

Sample 4 (p4) Sample 5 (p5)

~ 3417 ~
Conclusion
Mahua tree gives significantly high quantity of oil. The oil is
rich in PUFA and has desirable level of oleic and stearic acid
to be used as cocoa substitute in confectionary products and
production of margarines, cosmetic and pharmaceutical
industries. The mahua oil also has potential for alternative
fuel options for diesel. The flowers are used as vegetable, for
making cake, liquor etc. mahua is used to cure Bronchitis,
Rhematism, Diabetes, Piles, Eczema, Gums, Burns etc and
flower juice is used in the treatment of various disease and
ailments. The seeds are thus valuable in meeting demands for
food and food supplements with functional, health-promoting
properties in addition to industrial uses. As for the better
potential, good quality of mahua tree should be cultivated
through plant tissue culture by means of micro propagation.
The research workers have to come along with the people of
tribal community, so they may have more and valuable
knowledge. In coming next generation the importance of plant
and mahua tree is going to be increase because of their
effectiveness, easy availability, low cost and comparatively
being devoid of toxic effect. Plants are the important
economical source of a number of well established drugs
looking upon wide prospects and potential of Madhuca
Indica for various purposes; it is worthwhile to cultivate this
plant on large scale especially on unproductive and wasteland.
This will help in financial full support of poor and landless
families. Generally this plant Madhuca Indica is known only
for its liquor making purpose, but one have to come forward
to change the thinking of unaware people. The Mahua tree is
hidden from the public eyes as its medicinal point of view. As
for the better potential, good quality of mahua tree should be
cultivated through plant tissue culture by means of micro
propagation. The research workers have to come along with
the people of rulers’ area so they may have more and valuable
knowledge. In coming next generation the importance of plant
and mahua tree is going to be increase because of their
effectiveness, easy availability, low cost and comparatively
being devoid of toxic effect. Madhuca Indica has found
several of pharmacological activity, yet several other
activities have to be finding out.
.
 Reference:
 Em.m.wikipedia.org
 Ammae.in
 24mantra.com
 www.femina.in

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