Pre-milling treatments and milling process of pulses: Current practices and innovations
Keywords:
Dal mill, Dal recovery, Milling methods, Pre-milling treatments, PulsesAbstract
Pulses play an important role as a cheap protein source for people living in under developed and developing nations. Dehusking and splitting of whole pulses, to convert into dal, is the primary process before consumption. The process is referred to as pulse milling,with the primary objective to remove the outer husk (or hull) to improve cooking and culinary properties. Premilling treatments are given to loosen the seedcoat for efficient dehusking and minimizing losses in the form of broken and powder of cotyledons, and produce cleanly split dehulled cotyledons of pulse grains. The presence of gummy substances between the seedcoat and cotyledons is the main cause for the attachment of the seedcoat to the cotyledons. Based onthe quality and quantity of gums, pulses are considered easy or difficult kinds of pulses. Pigeonpea, blackgram and greengram are relatively difficult to mill in comparison to chickpea, lentil, and filedpea. Traditionally, premilling treatments are given to the whole grains to reduce the attachment of the seedcoat for ease of husk removal and splitting into two halves.Pulse milling in India is a process adopted at the domestic scale of milling. Modern commercial milling is the upscaling of the traditional pulse milling process. Water soaking and roasting were common traditional pre-milling treatments for small-scale milling. Commercial pulse mills use oil smearing or thermal treatment processes to loosen the seedcoat. This review paper has compiled work done by various researchers about traditional and innovative approaches, pre-milling treatments adopted for various pulses and their influence on the dehulling process.
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