Development of all-natural date-amaranth lassi by utilization of popped amaranth flour, dates and dateseed powder

In today's fast-paced world, there is a growing need for functional foods that can improve nutrition and thus support overall good health of human being. Lassi is a well-known fermented dairy beverage in India, popular due to its sweet-sour refreshing taste. Combining amaranth, dates and dateseed powder with lassi can create a tailor-made functional beverage with ‘health boosting’ properties. Experimental trials were conducted for formulation of date amaranth lassi for partial replacement of sugar using date paste. The lassi sample containing 50:50 date paste-sugar ratio received superior scores viz. colour & appearance (8.24), mouthfeel/consistency (8.28), flavour (8.23), sweetness (8.06) and overall acceptability (8.20). In the next phase of study, the suggested solution from RSM analysis indicated that addition of 49.45 per cent dahi, 4.19 per cent popped amaranth flour and 1.00 per cent dateseed powder was most suitable for manufacture of date-amaranth lassi. The date-amaranth lassi exhibited higher protein (62.82%) and ash (35.85%) content, while it had lower fat (32.78%) and carbohydrate (24.97%) content compared to the control lassi. The developed date-amaranth lassi was free from pectin and other chemicals and showed 64.46 per cent higher viscosity, 144.80 per cent higher WHC and 17.69 per cent higher antioxidant activity compared to control counterpart.