Vol. 10, Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
KV Sudha, Sarojani J Karakannavar, Basavraj Inamdar, Nirmala B Yenagi and Uma S Hiremath

Abstract:
Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is the second-most widely planted species of millet. It is known for its health benefits. Laddu are ball-shaped sweets popular in the Indian Subcontinent. Laddus are made of flour, ghee and sugar with other ingredients that vary by recipe. They are often served at festive or religious occasions. Hence, an attempt was made to develop foxtail millet based value added laddu and to study the market potentiality, economic analysis and consumer acceptability of the foxtail millet laddu. Standardization trials indicated that acceptable foxtail millet laddu could be developed by incorporating 50 per cent foxtail millet flour, 50 per cent Bengal gram dhal flour, 45 per cent ghee and 75 per cent sugar powder in the standard laddu recipe. The developed foxtail millet laddu was highly accepted. There was no availability of foxtail millet laddu in market. Consumers preferred foxtail millet laddu over traditional besan laddu. Marketing of these millet laddus was found to be profitable for the shopkeepers. Foxtail millet laddu may have a good scope for enhancing nutrition security. At present there is demand for ready to eat foods and therefore it has opened challengeable avenue to start production of such foods at commercial scale to benefit innumerable population and it can be taken as income generating activity by the entrepreneurs.