All right\ rem-vcd. Prinlcd in Great Hritair P I I: S 0 2 6 0 - X 7 7 4 ( 9 6 10 0 0 7 3 - X Olhll-X771.47 % IS.I)O cl1 OII Production of Low-fat Grits from Pearl Millet R. K. Jain & Satish Bal Post Harvest Technology Ccntcr, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India (Received IO April IYW accepted I3 Scptcmber lYY6) zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcb Pearl millet contains more ,fat, protein and miner& thun soft gruins such us rice und millets .such us sorghum. In spite of being nutritive, it has no pluce in ABSTRACT the regular diet of the Indian people. Storability of pearl millet is poor and of its ,fiour is poorer still due to its high fut content. Pearling of pearl millet has been tried as a means of producing low,fut pearled grains. Conditioning pf the pearl millet has been investigated with a view to obtain in milling, dljjerent size .fructions huving different ,fut contents. It was found that conditioning with wuter at the rute of 35 mLlkg of the pearl millet produces low-fat grits (69%) having a fut content of 2.4% und a fkt-rich fruction (127~) with fat content of IO?+. 0 1997 Elselier Science Limited. All rights reserved INTRODUCTION Pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides) is the sixth most important cereal in the world and is widely cultivated in Asia, Africa and the USA (Ahdclrahman & Hoseney, 1984). In India, it is cultivated over 13.64 million ha which produce about 7 million tonnes of the grains. It contains 11.6% protein, which is higher than in rice (7.2%) barley (1 IS%), maize (11.1%) and sorghum (10.4%) (Desikachar, 1975). Pearl millet contains up to W% f’dt, which is more than that in wheat, rice, barley, sorghum and maize (Lai & Varriano-Marston, 1980a; Rooney, 1978). It also has more minerals (2.3%) than rice, barley, maize and sorghum. It has less fibre content (1.2%) than wheat, barley, sorghum and maize (Desikachar, 1975). Its protein efficiency ratio is higher than that reported for wheat and sorghum (Pushpamma ct ~1.. 1972). In spite of a high nutritional value, pearl millet holds a secondary place in actual dietary systems. It is processed traditionally and consumed by the economically weaker section of the population in the various forms given in Table 1 throughout Asia and Africa. 297