Physicochemical and Cooking Properties of a Novel Food: Alhydwan (Boerhavia elegana Choisy) Seed Flour

Abstract

This study is an important approach for providing against the food-supply crisis especially in developing countries. Therefore, alhydwan (Boerhavia elegans Choisy) seed flour was evaluated for physicochemical and cooking properties. The findings of physicochemical showed that alhydwan number of seeds per gram was 345, so the weight of 100 seeds was approx. 0.35 g. The length, diameter and thickness of seeds were 4.25, 2.20 and 1.35 mm, respectively. The alhydwan flour had a bulk density of 0.53 g/mL, results on hunter color values (L*, a*, b*) indicated a sample total color difference (ΔE) of 31.42. This work is valuable in the aspect of the development of novel food material; our findings revealed that the alhydwan could be exploited as a basic raw material to develop new low cost nutritious functional foods.