Production and evaluation of vegetarian milk from quinoa seeds (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.).

Innovative beverages that serve well to the dietary requirement for children and adults as vegetarian quinoa milk were prepared in this study. These beverages recorded overall-acceptability score of 7.3 and 8.0 on the hedonic scale, which is means, moderately like and very like for quinoa like-milk and calcium fortified quinoa like-milk respectively. Moreover, some chemical and physical properties (pH, total soluble solids , separation rate and viscosity) for quinoa milk and calcium fortified like-milk seems to be closed to similar vegetarian milk products. Quinoa seeds contain valuable amount of crude protein (14.90%), crude ether extract (6.97%), ash (2.63%), carbohydrate (64.91%), crude fiber (2.71%) and energy value (307.61Kcal./100g). These important components make these seeds suitable for fortification of the diets. The crude protein contents of quinoa milk and calcium fortified quinoa milk were 1.40% and 1.37, the crude ether extract contents were 1.58% and 1.60%, the ash contents were 0.22% and 0.35%,the carbohydrate contents were 3.39% and 3.70% and the energy values were 33.06 Kcal. and 37.32Kcal/ 100g, respectively.. The calcium fortified quinoa like- milk was higher in calcium and magnesium contents (163. and 67.11mg/100g ) than the quinoa milk (58.23 and 64.23mg/100g), respectively. Also the quinoa seeds and its beverages had satisfied amounts of essential amino acids such lysine (6.51, 0.64 and 0.58%), leucine (6.57, 0.73and 0.69%), phenylalanine (6.47, 0.46 and 0.44%) and methionine (4.43, 0.28 and 0.24%),respectively. The seeds and the both beverages had total phenolic components contents (101.35, 16.47 and 28.54 mg /100g) and antioxidants activity (87.90, 55.60 and 84.09%), respectively. The protein efficiency ratio, protein digestibility and nitrogen balance of the protein quality in quinoa like-milk and calcium fortified like-milk beverages closed to the casein quality in animal studies. The determination of calcium and magnesium in the blood serum of rats showed a significant increase of two minerals for the different groups. The rats which fed on the calcium fortified quinoa milk recorded the highest minerals contents.