An eco-friendly process for the preservation of natural nutritious sprouts

Abstract

In an era where plants based and healthy diets are more adopted by the consumers and where the environment-friendly processes are are prevailing, preservation of nutritious natural sprouts by a time and energy saving treatment prompted us to conduct this study. Optimization of the germination of common wheat and Kamut grains was first presented. Reduced imbibition times of 3 and 5 hours were obtained for wheat and Kamut grains respectively with less water consumption. Then an optimal germination duration of 7 days was determined for both grains by monitoring the lipids, proteins, vitamins B2, B6, E and β-carotene contents during germination. Afterwards these sprouts were treated by Intensification of Vaporization by Decompression to the Vacuum (IVDV) and hot air dried to a water content of 4%. The effect of this treatment on the nutritional content of the sprouts and their drying kinetics were then studied. IVDV was proved to preserve the vitamins content of sprouts while saving around 8 hours of hot air drying.