Effect of Processing Methods on Nutritional and Anti-nutritional Value of Amaranth Grain; and Potential Future Application of Amaranth Grain in Injera Making

Despite of its multiple values, cultivation of grain amaranth has not received much attention. Processing and utilization of the grain in Ethiopia is currently low. This research was initiated to study the effect of processing methods (soaking and roasting) on nutritional and anti-nutritional value of amaranth grain; and potential future application of amaranth grain in injera making. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete design and replicated three times per treatment. The outcome of the study revealed that as the amaranth grain has good nutritional qualities and concurrently less amount of tannin and phytic acid. The crude fat, ash, fiber and protein contents of raw amaranth was 7.33%, 2.97%, 3.67 % and 13.07% respectively. The results revealed that, processing methods had significantly affected the nutritional qualities. The proximate compositions, minerals and anti-nutrients of the soaked amaranth was slightly lower than the roasted. In this study, roasting reduced crude protein content 3.44% and iron by 1.84mg/100g. Furthermore, soaking significantly reduces the anti-nutrients than roasting though it had effect on some nutritional qualities. Soaking reduced the phytates and tannin contents by 29.67mg/100g (11.85%) and 3.39mg/100g (49.62%) respectively. The injera griddled from amaranths grain had good colour, high number and evenly distributed of eyes and non-sticky and soft texture which makes it promising to replace teff for injera making.