Roller milling process for fractionation of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenumgraecum) and characterization of milled fractions.

The fenugreek seed is the richest source of soluble and insoluble fiber and also known for its medicinal and functional properties. The major objective of this present study is fractionation of the fenugreek by roller milling method and characterization of roller milled fractions. The effects of moisture conditioning on fenugreek roller milling were studied using standard methods. The results observed were increase in coarse husk from 33.75-42.46 % and decrease in flour yield from 49.52-41.62 % with increase in addition of moisture from 12-20 %. At 16 % conditioning moisture, the yield of coarse husk was 40.87 % with dietary fiber and protein content of 73.4 % and 6.96 % respectively. The yellowness value (b) for the coarse husk (29.68) found to be lowest at 16 % conditioning moisture compared to the other coarse husk samples, showing maximum clean separation. The fiber fractions showed the viscosity of 6,392 cps at 2 % w/v concentration. The flour fraction was higher in protein (41.83 %) and fat (13.22 %) content. Roller milling process of fenugreek was able to produce > 40 % of coarse husk with 73.4 % dietary fiber (25.56 % soluble & 47.84 % insoluble) and > 48 % flour with 41.83 % protein content, where as the whole fenugreek contained 22.5 % protein & 51.25 % dietary fiber. Thus roller milling has proved to be a valuable method for the fractionation of fenugreek to obtain fiber and protein rich fractions.