J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):610–615

DOI 10.1007/s13197-010-0148-4

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Preparation of idli batter, its properties and nutritional

improvement during fermentation
Debasree Ghosh & Parimal Chattopadhyay

Revised: 21 June 2010 / Accepted: 12 October 2010 / Published online: 16 November 2010
# Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2010

Abstract Idli is a traditional fermented rice and black gram Introduction

based food. Idli batter is prepared by soaking polished
parboiled rice and decorticated black gram for 4 h at 30±1 °C Idli is a very popular fermented breakfast food consumed in
in water. The soaked mass was ground using a grinder the Indian subcontinent made mainly of rice and black
with adequate amount of water. The blend ratios of 2:1, gram. Soybean, green gram and chick pea can be
3:1 and 4:1 (w/w) batter were allowed for fermentation for substituted for the black gram (Ramakrishnan 1979,
different periods with the addition of 2% (w/w) of salt. Steinkraus 1996). Traditionally, idli preparation is as
The rheology of the product was assessed using a follows: i) rice and black gram were soaked separately, ii)
Brookfield Viscometer having disc spindles. Shear stress after draining the water, rice and black gram were grind
values were in the range of 0.22 and 4 Pa and reached a separately with occasional addition of water during grind-
maximum value at 7 h of fermentation. The density, pH, ing process, iii) the rice and black gram batters were then
and percentage total acidity of batter during fermentation mixed together with addition of a little salt, iv) the mixture
for different blend ratios ranged between 0.93 and was allowed to ferment overnight at room temperature, v)
0.59 gm cm −3, 4.21 and 5.9 and 0.44 and 0.91% the fermented batter was dispensed in special idli pans and
respectively. During fermentation, maximum production allowed for steaming for 5–8 min (Balasubramanium et al.
of riboflavin and thiamine were found to be 0.76 mg/100 gm 2006). During fermentation of idli batter overnight the
and 0.73 mg/100 gm in 3:1 blend ratio of idli batter; and naturally occurring microorganisms viz. Leuconostoc mes-
the folic acid content was found to be at a maximum of enteroides and Streptoccous thermophilus in grains/
0.75 mg/100 gm of idli batter after 10 h of fermentation. legumes/utensils grow rapidly, outnumbering the initial
Digestibility in terms of amino N2 content was analysed contaminants and dominating the fermentation. These
by formol titration. microorganisms produce lactic acid (≥1.0%) and carbon
dioxide that make the batter anaerobic and leaven the
Keywords Idli batter . Blend ratio . Fermentation . product. Several aspects such as effect of raw materials,
Viscosity . B vitamins . Formol titration effect of fermentation or processing temperature and
microorganisms involved in biochemical and nutritive
D. Ghosh changes have been investigated (Balasubramanium et al.
Department of Food Technology & Biochemical Engineering, 2006, Desikachar et al. 1962, Joseph et al. 1993, Steinkraus
Jadavpur University, et al. 1967, Steinkraus 1983, Thyagaraja et al. 1991).
Kolkata 700032, India
Methods of idli preparation have been reviewed by many
e-mail: [email protected]
authors (Soni and Sadhu 1990). It has also been reported
P. Chattopadhyay (*) that during fermentation, vitamins B and C increase, and
Department of Food Technology, also phytate is hydrolyzed almost to 50%. L. mesenteroides
Guru Nanak Institute of Technology,
(leavening) and S. faecalis (acid production) develop
Panihati- Sodepur,
Kolkata 700114, India concomitantly at soaking stage and continue to multiply
e-mail: [email protected] following grinding (Mukherjee et al. 1965). The reported
J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):610–615 611

changes during fermentation include an increase in free Fermentation of the batter After addition of salt (NaCl)
sugar, non-protein nitrogen (Desikachar et al. 1962), free 2% of total wt of raw material, the batter was allowed to
nicotinic acid (Rajalakshmi et al. 1964), methionine and ferment for different period (0, 4,7,10,13,16,19 and 22 h)
choline in idli (Doughty 1964) and a breakdown of phytate in a stainless steel vessel. No effort was made to control
in bread dough (Davidson et al. 1963) and of trypsin the temperature during the course of fermentation (the aim
inhibitors in certain fermented legume preparations was to study the physical characteristics of idli fermenta-
(Aykroyd 1963). These changes during fermentation are tion as done traditionally); the temperature varied between
highly significant for nutritional point of view. An increase 20 °C and 26 °C. The volume was recorded at
in methionine, a limiting essential amino acid in legumes, 4,7,10,13,16,19 and 22 h with the help of a measuring
greatly improves protein value. The vitamins content of idli cylinder.
batter per 100 g are 0.59 mg riboflavin, 0.59 mg thiamine
and 0.76 mg folic acid. Rheological studies About 100 ml of the batter was taken
The objective was made to investigate the behaviour of for viscosity measurements. The viscosity of the fermented
idli batter prepared from polished parboiled rice and batter was measured using Brookfield Viscometer model
decorticated black gram in different ratio during fermen- DV-E at disc spindle speeds of 5, 6,10,12,20,30,50,60 and
tation and to analyse the data required for improving 100 rpm. The readings were taken only after 1 min of
nutritional profile of idli. The present study deals with the revolution. The appropriate disc spindle was selected so
following aspects: a) rheological characteristics of batter that the torque readings were not below 10% of the total
during the course of fermentation, b) volume changes of scale. Since the instrument did not give the direct shear rate
idli batter formed in the idli pans, c) effect of rice and readings for disc type spindle geometry, shear rate readings
black gram ratio on the above said parameters and d) were calculated from torque rpm readings according to the
changes in the nutrient contents during the course of procedure described below (Nagarjuna and Manohar 2000,
fermentation. The consumption of sprouted cereals is Mitschka 1982):
becoming popular in various parts of the world. Sprouting

of grains for a limited period causes increased activities of + ¼ 25:Rg:Rs=  Rg2  Rs2 ð1Þ
hydrolytic enzymes, improvement in the contents of Where γ=shear rate, sec−1, ω=angular velocity of
certain essential amino acids, total sugars, and B-group spindle (π N/30) radians/sec, N=r.p.m of spindle, Rg=
vitamins, and a decrease in dry matter, starch, and inner radius of guardleg, cm, Rs=radius of spindle, cm;
antinutrients. The digestibilities of storage proteins and x=radius at which shear rate is being calculated.
starch are improved due to their partial hydrolysis during

sprouting (Chavan et al. 1989). Meeting the demand The srear stress; C ¼ M=2: Rg2  Rs2 L ð2Þ
among the fermented foods (idli), an attempt was made to
investigate the behaviour of idli batter made of polished M=torque input by the instrument (dyne cm); L=
parboiled rice and decorticated black gram blends in effective length of spindle, cm.
different ratio during its fermentation and to generate the The values of shear stress and shear rate from the
basic data required for automation of this traditional readings of torque vs. spindle speed, was calculated using
and high nutritional domestic process of idli making Eqs. 1 and 2 (Holdsworth 1971).
(Balasubramanium and Viswanathan 2007). The flow behaviour index (n) and consistency coefficient
(k) of idli batter at different blend ratios and fermentation
times were calculated by the power law equation
Materials and methods C ¼ k+n ð3Þ

Raw materials The raw materials selected for this study Where, k=consistency co efficient; dynes cm−2, n=Flow
were polished parboiled rice (Oryza sativa) and decorti- Behavior Index, dimensionless.
cated black gram (Vigna radiate) that were procured from a Taking log of both sides of Eq. (3) we get log τ=log
local market. k+n log γ
The flow behavior index and consistency coefficient
Preparation of idli batter and idli Rice to black gram in the were derived by plotting a graph between the values of
ratios of 2:1, 3:1 and 4:1 by wt were taken, carefully shear stress and shear rate in the log-log scale figures. The
washed and soaked separately for 5 h. After draining the best fit equation similar to power law equation in the
water, rice and black gram were separately grounded in a logarithmic scale is of the type
wet grinder. Water was added as and when necessary. This
formed a batter for the preparion of fermented idli. y ¼ mx þ cða straight lineÞ ð4Þ
612 J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):610–615

Changes in physical quality parameters

140 Spectrophotometric analysis of folic acid and thiamine in
idli batter Folic acid and thiamine contents were measured
120
by the method of A.O.A.C (1970).
100 All chemicals used were of MERCK, India.
80
Determination of amino nitrogen 25 ml of solution of the
60 idli batter weighing 5 g of 3:1 (rice: black gram) blend ratio
in 20 ml water was titrated with standard 0.1 N barium
40
hydroxide solution. The volume of the blank (which was
20 usually negligible for amino groups) was deducted from the
actual volume in the formol titration (Vogel et al. 1990).
0
The amino N2 present in the idli batter and its change
0 5 10 15 20 25 during fermentation was calculated according to the
Fermentation time (h) following equation.

rice:dal:: 2:1 rice:dal:: 2:1 rice:dal:: 2:1 Presence of % of amino N2 in the idli batter
rice:dal:: 3:1 rice:dal:: 3:1 rice:dal:: 3:1
rice:dal:: 4:1 rice:dal:: 4:1 rice:dal:: 4:1 V1  N1  M  100
¼
W  1000
Fig. 1 Changes in physical quality parameters of idli batters (n=3).
The first set of different rice and dal blend ratios above indicates Where, V1 =volume of baryta solution (ml.) less blank
density changes (gm.cm-3), similarly the second set above indicates
for acid impurities, N1 =normality of baryta solution, M=
volume changes (cm3) and the third set indicates apparent viscosity
changes (Pa.s) respectively at different period of fermentation. The molecular weight of amino nitrogen, W=weight (g) of idli
experiment was carried out in triplicate batter used in the titration.

Where y=shear stress for different fermentation times (0, Statistical analysis The experiments were conducted for
4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, and 22 h); (τ) three replications of each of blend ratio and fermentation
m=slope of the line (flow behavior index); (n), x=shear times. The experimental data were statistically analyzed
rate (sec−1); (γ), c=anti-logarithm of intercept of line using SPSS 16.0 for Windows (general) linear model,
(consistency coefficient, pascal). univariate analysis and Microsoft Excel 2007 (Microsoft
Corp., Redmond, WA, USA).
Determination of idli batter properties For the different
fermentation times and blend ratios the idli batter properties
40
viz. density, pH, percent total acidity, flow behaviour i.e.,
viscosity, shear stress, shear rate were studied. The density 35
shear stress (dynes cm-2)

was calculated as the ratio of mass to volume of the idli

30
batter. The pH of the batter at different fermentation time
was recorded using Digital pH meter (model no. L1-120, 25
Elico Pvt Limited; Hyderabad, India). The pH of the
20
samples was measured initially and at the end of the
fermentation. For idli batter the pH was analyzed at regular 15
time intervals during fermentation. This measurement was 10
performed in triplicate for each set of idli batter.
For determining percent total acidity, 5 g of freshly 5
prepared batter was diluted in 10 ml of water and titrated 0
against 0.1(N) NaOH following the method of A.O.A.C 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
(1970). shear rate (sec-1)

batter ratio 2:1 batter ratio 2:1 batter ratio 2:1

Chemical evaluation of idli batter batter ratio 3:1 batter ratio 3:1 batter ratio 3:1
batter ratio 4:1 batter ratio 4:1 batter ratio 4:1

Determination of Riboflavin content Concentration of Ribo-

Fig. 2 Shear Stress vs. Shear Rate of idli batter of different blend
flavin was determined at different period of fermentation by ratios (parboiled rice: black gram, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1) subjected to 0 h,
spectrofluorometric method of Kodicek and Wang (1949)). 7 h and 10 h of fermentation at 37ºC. The experiment was carried out
1 ml homogenized sample was used for this purpose. in triplicate
J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):610–615 613

Table 1 Changes in flow behavior, consistency and vitamin B in idli batters of different blend ratios (parboiled rice: black gram) subjected to
different period of fermentation at 37 °C

Blend ratio Fermentation time (h) Flow Behaviour Index Consistency Index Concentration of Vitamin B (mg/100 ml of idli batter)

Riboflavin Thiamine Folic acid

2:1 0 0.406 1.12±0.05 0.22±0.11 0.26±0.03a 0.29±0.05a

04 0.504 1.53±0.09 0.43±0.09a 0.54±0.05 0.60±0.11a
07 0.614 2.03±0.11 0.48±0.10 0.59±0.09 0.65±0.12
10 0.412 1.20±0.02 0.54±0.10a 0.62±0.09a 0.70±0.15
13 0.426 1.37±0.06 0.46±0.06 0.48±0.08 0.54±0.09
16 0.856 5.06±0.15 0.44±0.06 0.42±0.08 0.41±0.09
19 0.397 1.08±0.08 0.38±0.05a 0.36±0.08a 0.38±0.06
22 0.415 1.33±0.06 0.31±0.10 0.33±0.07 0.31±0.06
3:1 0 0.248 0.55±0.04 0.42±0.08a 0.46±0.09 0.48±0.06a
04 0.263 0.58±0.05 0.68±0.10 0.69±0.07 0.69±0.13
07 0.348 0.88±0.04 0.76±0.08a 0.73±0.07a 0.75±0.14
10 0.276 0.62±0.06 0.75±0.07 0.72±0.07 0.70±0.14
13 0.367 0.97±0.14 0.61±0.07a 0.59±0.06 0.56±0.12a
16 0.328 0.75±0.08 0.60±0.06 0.52±0.06 0.54±0.12
19 0.316 0.74±0.04 0.46±0.09a 0.49±0.06a 0.51±0.10
22 0.379 1.05±0.17 0.44±0.08 0.43±0.05 0.47±0.08
4:1 0 0.357 0.96±0.08 0.21±0.06 0.23±0.07 0.30±0.05
04 0.208 0.38±0.02 0.46±0.08a 0.52±0.10a 0.56±0.10
07 0.218 0.44±0.06 0.48±0.11a 0.59±0.10 0.62±0.11a
10 0.227 0.51±0.04 0.44±0.10 0.48±0.06 0.60±0.11
13 0.231 0.53±0.04 0.41±0.11 0.43±0.09 0.56±0.08
16 0.306 0.69±0.06 0.40±0.11 0.41±0.08a 0.44±0.06a
19 0.296 0.64±0.02 0.35±0.12 0.38±0.09 0.34±0.04
22 0.403 1.27±0.17 0.34±0.09a 0.36±0.09a 0.32±0.04

Means±SD with the same superscript within each column are not significantly different (P <0.05) (n=3). 2:1, 3:1, 4:1: As in text

Results and discussion

Density The density of parboiled rice and decorticated

black gram batter at different fermentation times and blend
Amino nitrogen (g N2/ 100 g of idli batter)

ratios ranged from 0.93 to 0.59 gcm−3. The density 3.5

decreased as the fermentation time increased. This was

3.0
because of the entrapment of the air/in gas pockets and the
functions of the microorganisms responsible for the
2.5
different functionality of batter density (Mukherjee et al.
1965). Mean values of idli batter density for different blend 2.0
ratio (2:1, 3:1 and 4:1) (Fig. 1) at 22 h of fermentation are
0.592, 0.682 and 0.831 gcm−3 respectively. During fer- 1.5
mentation the volume of idli batter increases from 1.62 to
3.2 times its original volume (Fig. 1). This increased 1.0
volume of idli batter is due to the incorporation of lactic
acid bacteria into the batter during fermentation and 0.5
entrapment of air. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Fermentation time (h)

pH value The pH value of idli batter at different fermen- Fig. 3 Formol titration to determine the amount of amino N2 in idli
tation period ranged between 5.9 and 4.2 already mentioned batter. The experiment was carried out in triplicate
614 J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):610–615

in the earlier study (Ghosh and Chattopadhyay 2010). Formol titration of idli batter By formol titration, it was
There is an increasing trend of acidity level, i.e., decrease in observed that (Fig. 3), with increasing fermentation time
the pH value. This is mainly associated with the develop- (4–30 h), more free amino groups was released due to
ment of S. faecalis producing lactic acid which lowers the hydrolysis of protein from black gram due to the activity of
pH, and production of carbon dioxide, which leavens the the lactic acid bacteria which hydrolysed protein of idli
batter (Mukherjee et al. 1965). Black gram soaked in water batter into free amino acids during fermentation. Free
has a high concentration of soluble nutrients to support the amino groups in the food samples made it more acceptable
growth of lactic acid bacteria. The role of lactic acid for consumption due to their improved digestibility (Chavan
bacteria is to reduce pH of the batter to an optimum level et al. 1989).
(4.4 to 4.5) for yeast activity (Soni and Sadhu 1990).

Percent total acidity The percent total acidity of idli batter Conclusion
at different period of fermentation ranged between 0.44 to
0.91% (Ghosh and Chattopadhyay 2010). Black gram, the Idli batter has been prepared with the blend ratios of 2:1,
leguminous component of idli batter serves not only as an 3:1 and 4:1 (parboiled rice: black gram). Physical properties
effective substrate but also provides the maximum number of this idli batter viz. density, pH and percent total acidity at
of microorganisms for fermentation. With the fermentation different fermentation times and blend ratios were observed
time there is an increase in the percent total acidity value in the range of 0.93–0.59 gcm−3, 4.21 and 5.9 and 0.44–
whereas, during 19 and 20 h of fermentation there is less 0.91% respectively. The flow behavior indicated the Non
variation in the percent of total acidity of idli batter. Newtonian characteristics of idli batter at different period of
fermentation and blend ratios (pseudoplastic). The chemical
Rheological characteristics Apparent viscosity of idli batter behavior of idli batter has shown enhanced amount of
at different fermentation time (h) and flow curve of idli batter vitamin B production during fermentation and 7 h is the
with respect to shear rate and viscosity plot at different recommended time for the production of maximum amount
fermentation time (0 h, 7 h and 10 h) were shown in Figs. 1 of B vitamins with the blend ratio of 3:1 and amino N2
and 2 respectively. In general, both parameters have shown a content was found to be maximum i.e. 3.25% at 25 h of
declining trend with fermentation time irrespective of blend fermentation.
ratio. However, the increase of rice content in the batter
shown marginally increased values of consistency index Acknowledgement The authors gratefully acknowledge the University
(Table 1). The power law model with shear stress and shear Grants Commission, New Delhi, India for providing financial assistance
rate fitted the data well (P<0.05) for all the batter types and to carry out the research work.
fermentation periods, flow behaviour indices were in the
range of 0.208–0.856, which indicated strong non New-
tonian behaviour (pseudo plastic or shear thinning) of the idli
batter. Volume increase during the course of the fermentation References
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