Nutrient Composition and Sensory Profile of Differently Cooked Green Leafy Vegetables

Figures & data

Table 1 Cooking conditions of green leafy vegetables (per 300 g of edible portion)

Vegetable	Variations	Water added (ml)	Time taken (min)	Cooked weight (g)
Amaranth	Con	100	22	305
	Pre	85	9	325
	Mic	85	14	290
Kilkeerai	Con	120	18	310
	Pre	85	8	330
	Mic	90	10	300
Shepu	Con	175	21	306
	Pre	110	8	310
	Mic	145	10	295
Spinach	Con	40	12	250
	Pre	40	6	255
	Mic	—	8	265

Values are mean of two batches.

Con—conventionally cooked;

Pre—pressure cooked;

Mic—microwave cooked.

Table 2 Proximate composition of green leafy vegetables (g/per 100 g edible portion, wet basis)

Vegetables	Variations	Moisture	Protein	Ether extract	Total ash	Total dietary fiber
Amaranth	Raw	90.7^a±0.42	2.12±0.09	0.35±0.03	1.81±0.1	3.72±0.13
	Con	90.2^a±0.35	2.18±0.08	0.37±0.04	1.90±0.04	3.99±0.02
	Pre	90.0^a±0.49	2.23±0.14	0.42±0.04	1.86±0.08	3.97±0.22
	Mic	89.1^b±0.48	2.42±0.15	0.38±0.04	1.96±0.08	3.64±0.11
“F ” ratio	8.880*	2.594ns	1.982ns	2.371ns	—
Kilkeerai	Raw	91.0±0.78	2.39±0.37	0.29±0.09	1.75±0.04	3.65±0.56
	Con	90.4±0.31	2.63±0.38	0.37±0.09	1.77±0.03	3.85±0.09
	Pre	90.5±0.77	2.42±0.52	0.42±0.06	1.65±0.02	3.68±0.66
	Mic	90.3±0.53	2.48±0.64	0.37±0.09	1.77±0.00	3.71±0.42
“F ” ratio	1.025ns	0.178ns	1.335ns	1.957ns	—
Shepu	Raw	90.4±1.26	2.60±0.36	0.47±0.01	1.62±0.14	3.42±0.19
	Con	89.5±0.94	2.71±0.24	0.42±0.02	1.74±0.07	3.51±0.28
	Pre	90.8±2.41	2.51±0.56	0.49±0.01	1.53±0.25	3.45±0.06
	Mic	88.3±2.29	2.92±0.10	0.55±0.03	1.63±0.47	4.06±1.13
“F ” ratio	1.465ns	0.225ns	2.174ns	0.432ns	—
Spinach	Raw	94.7^a±0.10	1.51±0.03	0.17^a±1.25	1.25±0.08	1.87±0.19
	Con	92.6^b±1.88	2.17±0.69	0.40^b±4.60	1.59±0.38	2.23±0.39
	Pre	93.3^b±0.23	2.05±0.02	0.40^b±0.11	1.29±0.05	2.24±0.16
	Mic	93.0^b±0.14	1.92±0.24	0.39^b±3.55	1.45±0.04	2.30±0.16
“F ” ratio	—	3.749*	2.410ns	13.316*	2.409ns	—

Values represent mean ± SD of duplicate determination of two separate batches.

Values with different superscripts in a column (for a specific vegetable) are significantly different.

ns—not significant; *—p ≤ 0.05.

Con—conventionally cooked; Pre—pressure cooked; Mic—microwave cooked.

Table 3 Minerals, ascorbic acid, and β-carotene content of green leafy vegetables (mg/100 g edible portion, wet basis)

Vegetable	Variation	Calcium	Phosphorus	Iron	Ionizable iron	In vitro available iron1	Ascorbic acid	β-carotene2
Amaranth	Raw	183±15.54	45±9.19	8.68±1.71	2.45^a±0.09	1.20	37.3^a±4.81	10.96
	Con	195±12.52	50±12.15	8.87±1.79	1.62^b±0.03	0.81	12.6^b±3.32	13.86
	Pre	190±11.16	47±13.30	7.84±1.15	1.46^bc±0.14	0.73	7.9^c±0.39	19.17
	Mic	182±29.26	53±13.36	8.79±2.41	1.89^bd±0.22	0.93	12.1^b±2.22	11.75
“F” ratio	0.619ns	0.357ns	0.271ns	37.810**	—	36.55*	—
Kilkeerai	Raw	192±26.14	65±12.70	5.92±1.11	2.06^a±0.15	1.0	24.3±11.1	14.30
	Con	201±21.54	67±16.74	5.67±1.01	1.52^a±0.54	0.74	13.2±6.4	14.23
	Pre	190±21.91	60±13.85	5.84±1.05	1.08^b±0.26	0.54	8.0±6.2	23.96
	Mic	209±19.82	68±14.73	5.96±1.23	1.29^a±0.33	0.64	12.2±9.6	23.51
“F” ratio	0.614 ns	0.237ns	0.052ns	5.866*	—	0.627ns	—
Shepu	Raw	113±30.16	40^a±0.95	3.38^a±0.14	2.51^a±0.28	1.20	35.0±15.2	21.01
	Con	106±4.64	51^b±12.15	5.03^b±0.89	1.81^ac±0.06	0.87	18.9±14.5	31.47
	Pre	109±14.66	42^a±5.35	4.19^b±0.41	1.51^bc±0.14	0.72	20.6±13.9	21.81
	Mic	137±47.59	53^b±6.18	4.45^b±0.38	2.02^a±0.59	0.97	18.4±11.3	31.67
“F” ratio	1.968 ns	3.151*	3.938*	3.313*	—	0.285ns	—
Spinach	Raw	38^a±4.96	26±5.25	3.00±0.53	2.00^a±0.49	0.96	9.4^a±0.50	3.57
	Con	55^b±4.23	32±2.51	2.97±0.75	1.11^b±0.35	0.55	0.46^b±0.08	6.54
	Pre	52^b±8.5	30±8.68	2.69±0.87	1.18^b±0.33	0.58	0.72^b±0.45	6.20
	Mic	53^b±7.14	30±7.32	3.56±4.43	1.36^b±0.44	0.66	0.52^b±0.16	5.18
“F” ratio	4.698*	0.677ns	1.77ns	3.938*	—	316.92***	—

Values represent mean ± SD of duplicate determination of two separate batches.

Values with different superscripts in a column (for a specific vegetable) are significantly different.

ns—not significant; *— p ≤ 0.05; **— p ≤ 0.01; ***—p ≤ 0.001.

Con—conventionally cooked; Pre—pressure cooked; Mic—microwave cooked.

¹Values calculated from ionizable iron as suggested by Rao and Prabhavathi.14

²Values are of duplicate samples of one batch.

Table 4 Result of rank sum analysis

		Total of ranks marked
Attributes	No. of panelistsa	Con	Pre	Mic
Amaranth
Color	19	35.0	48.0b	29.0
Aroma	17	33.0	36.0	33.0
Texture	18	32.5	34.0	41.5
Overall quality	20	37.0	46.5	36.5
Kilkeerai
Color	18	30.5	45.0b	32.5
Aroma	18	25.5	36.0	40.5b
Texture	18	34.5	29.0	35.0
Overall quality	18	33.0	35.0	40.0
Shepu
Color	20	38.5	50.5b	31.0
Aroma	16	29.5	39.0	27.5
Texture	19	38.5	30.5	35.0
Overall quality	19	33.5	45.5	35.0
Spinach
Color	20	29.0b	38.0	41.0
Aroma	18	30.0	42.0	36.0
Texture	19	27.0	40.0	37.0
Overall quality	20	29.0b	33.5	35.5

Con—conventionally cooked; Pre—pressure cooked; Mic—microwave cooked.

^aVariation in no. of panelists is due to editing.

^bSignificantly different at 5% level.

Figure 1. Mean scores of profile test of cooked greens (Con—conventionally cooked, Pre—pressure cooked, Mic—microwave cooked).

Rao , B.S.N. and Prabhavathi , T. 1978 . An in vitro method for predicting the bioavailability of iron from foods . Am. J. Clin. Nutr. , 31 : 169 – 175 .

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