Nutritional quality and storage stability of chikki prepared using pumpkin seed, flaxseed, oats and peanuts

A novel pumpkin seed chikki (PSC) and pumpkin chocolate chikki (PCC) with enhanced nutritional quality by incorporating flaxseed, oats and peanuts was studied. The ingredients of the chikki were pumpkin seed (25%), flaxseed (8.0%), oats (8.0%), peanut (9.0%) and jaggery (50%). The protein and fat contents were 12 and 15% in PSC and PCC and phosphorous was found to be 186 and 206 mg/100 gm, respectively. Equilibrium moisture content – Relative humidity studies showed the chikkis were non-hygroscopic in nature and hence can be stored at ambient temperature in polyethylene pouches. The fatty acid composition of the total lipid showed that chikkis were rich in oleic and linoleic acids with unsaturated fatty acids constituting 65 and 63% in PSC and PCC, respectively. The overall sensory quality determined on 9 point Hedonic scale indicated that PCC was the preferred one, with sensory score of 8.0 during three months storage at RT.