Development and sensory evaluation of Tribulus terrestris (L) fruit powder incorporated into the rice recipes

Presently the whole world is hoping to make “FOOD IS THY MEDICINE” come true. People look out for healthy but functional foods for the management or prevention of disorders. Healthy foods may be developed with medicinal herbs, in order to make its consumption palatable and frequently consumable. In the present study, it has been embarked to venture in developing common South Indian rice based recipes incorporated with Tribulus terrestris (an aphrodisiac herb) fruit powder and to evaluate them organoleptically by using 9 point hedonic scale. Though different colour rice are available, in this study white rice (Oryza Sativa) is used. Tribulus terrestris fruit powder has been documented to treat various disorders namely urinary tract infections, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, lead toxicity, etc. In this trial, Tribulus terrestris fruit powder has been incorporated at the rate of 10g, 20g and 30g. However, in comparison with the standard recipes, 10g Tribulus terrestris fruit powder added recipes were found to be competent and acceptable. Particularly, Adai recipe had the highest organoleptic score than the standard recipe. Similarly, 20g of Tribulus terrestris fruit powder added Kolukattai scored higher than 10g recipe but relatively lesser than the standard recipe. However, on the whole in all the recipes particularly Idly, Dosa, Puttu, Upma and Idiyappam addition of 10g of Tribulus terrestris fruit powder made it comparable with the standard recipes and were highly acceptable. Thus the present study appreciably recommends aggressive inclusion and utilization of Tribulus terrestris fruit powder in the Indian recipes in order to alleviate the toxicity and complications that might occur due to the lead pollution as India is widely vulnerable to this heavy metal pollution.