EFFECT OF VARIOUS DOMESTIC PROCESSING AND COOKING METHODS ON THE HCL-EXTRACTABILITY OF MINERALS FROM PEA-SEEDS

Various domestic processing and cooking methods like soaking (6, 12 an d 18 h), dehulling of soaked pea seeds, ordinary and pressure cooking of unsoaked, soaked and soaked-dehulled pea seeds and sprouting for va rying periods (12, 24 and 48 h) brought about a significant (P < 0.05) improvement in HCl-extractability of minerals, an index of their bioa vailability to the human system. Sprouting was noticed to be the best processing method followed by pressure cooking and ordinary cooking of soaked-dehulled pea seeds for remarkably enhancing the availability o f dietary essential minerals i.e. calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper an d zinc.