Published Paper Details:

Indigenous vegetables are nutritious and available only in rainy season. These are grown naturally with no pesticide or chemical uses and are cost-effective. The aim of the study is to evaluate the phytonutrient content in developed food products using indigenous vegetables and to analyse the shelf life of the products. The study comprises at collection of indigenous vegetables from Vikramgadh of Palghar district and development of food products using them. These products are analysed for moisture content, ash content, phytochemical analysis, shelf life study using sensory evaluation and microbial testing. Nutritional assessment of all the developed food products was done using review of existing literature and �Indian Food Composition Table� (IFCT 2017) by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for other ingredients used in the preparation. The main indigenous vegetables used in this study are ambadi, nal bhaji, kardu, kartoli, bamboo shoots which are found to be low in calories, fats and rich in dietary fiber and various micronutrients as well as phytonutrients. With an idea of making healthy vegetable snacks and to increase the consumption of these underutilised vegetables for extended period of time in the diet, baked food products such as ambadi mathri, kardu sticks, nal bhaji sev, kartoli chips and pickle made from bamboo shoots were developed. These developed food products have shelf stability of more than a month. The overall acceptability of the food products was good. All the developed food products were observed to be better than their commercial food products counterparts as these vegetables are rich in antioxidant and have therapeutic application. These underutilised vegetables are useful in prevention of chronic diseases.