Processing Technology for Value Addition in Millets

Millets are the harbinger of nutrition required for human health. Besides the diverse essential nutritional constituents like minerals, vitamins, micronutrients, etc., millet grains also contain a considerable amount of anti-nutritional constituents. The removal of anti-nutritional compounds from the particular type of millet is a mandatory requirement prior to its consumption otherwise it creates serious health hazards. Different techniques and treatments have been given to the millet grains at household level from ancient times to make them suitable for human consumption. These operations include soaking, heating, roasting, fermentation, cooking, etc. Now, days various unit operations have been standardized and optimized independently for each type of millet. All these unit operations like soaking, dehulling, grinding, roasting, puffing, fermentation, malting, etc., with appropriately designed processing equipment and machines are well-established in industries for commercial-scale processing of millets. The selection criteria for appropriate processing operation, equipment, and production scale are based on the targeted output.