NUTRITIONAL POTENTIAL AND FUNCTIONAL-PROPERTIES OF HEAT-TREATED WITH GERMINATED FENUGREEK SEEDS

The effects of heat treatment and no heat treatment on the nutritional composition, antinutritive materials and functional properties of fen ugreek seeds were studied. The raffinose, stachyose and verbascose wer e eliminated by germination, and the levels of phytic acid, tannic aci d and trypsin inhibitor were reduced by it. However, heat treatment de stroyed most of the trypsin inhibitor activity and verbascose and redu ced the levels of raffinose, stachyose, phytic acid and tannic acid. F enugreek seeds were a good source of essential amino acids especially leucine, lysine, total aromatic amino acids and tryptophan. Heat treat ment and germination decreased the sulfur-containing amino acids and t ryptophan contents. Both treatments improved the in vitro protein dige stibility. Fenugreek seeds were rich in Na, Ca, Cu and Fe. All treatme nts decreased the levels of mineral content with the exception of Na, P and Zn for germination treatment. The major protein fractions in fen ugreek seed were albumins (470 g/kg) and globulins (200 g/kg). Fenugre ek seeds showed excellent functional properties. Heat treatment improv ed the water absorption capacity while germination improved the fat ab sorption capacity. However, both treatments decreased the nitrogen sol ubility index. Emulsifying activity was not affected by germination, w hile heat treatment did not affect emulsion stability. Fenugreek seeds could potentially be added to food systems such as bakery and ground meat formulations, not only as a nutrient supplement but also as a fun ctional agent in these formulations.