Retention of nutrients of pearl millet using conventional and solar cooking

Comparative estimation of nutrients of pearl millet was studied by adopting two methods of cooking, that is, conventional cooking on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves and solar cooking. Starch, total soluble carbohydrate, protein, calcium and iron were determined for raw, conventional and solar cooked pearl millet. It was found that retention of starch was 98.58% for solar cooked and 74.51% for conventional cooked pearl millet. Retention of total soluble carbohydrate was 31.22% for solar cooked and 28.96% for conventional cooked pearl millet. Retention of protein was 98.00% for solar cooked and 97.24% for conventional cooked pearl millet. Retention of calcium was 83.3% for solar cooked and 77.8% for conventional cooked pearl millet. Retention of iron was 98.27% for solar cooked and 95.66% for conventional cooked pearl millet. The results in the study revealed that solar cooking is better than conventional cooking because more nutrients are retained in solar cooking than conventional cooking.   Key words: Solar cooking, retention of nutrient, pearl millet.