India needs low-cost, healthy and innovative bakery products. The use of locally available nutritious ingredients such as millets, whole wheat, greens and honey would ensure the needed nutrition in bakery products. This is where the bakery training unit, University of Agricultural Sciences, used a local variety of Shepu greens botanically known as Peucedanum Graveolens to develop buns, rusks and biscuits.

The basic raw materials used like maida, fat, and sugar have no health value. Milling of wheat into maida, removes the thiamine, niacin, riboflavin and iron as well as some minerals. Even though bakery products are convenient they need to be healthy, according to Dr K V Jamuna, representing the bakery training unit, UAS, Bangalore.

"Bakery industry has made rapid progress in recent years in the country and bakery products are well accepted by young and the old. It is also now extensively available in villages," she added.

The institute went on to develop iron-rich bakery products from Shepu greens. Further, it went on to carry out a study to develop cheap and nutritious bakery recipes from Shepu, which could also contribute significant amount of iron in the final products.

According to Dr Jamuna, the key objective of the study was to assess the nutritional composition of the Shepu greens, and develop the value-added products using the dried greens.

The washed leaves were dried in a hot air oven at 70 degree centigrade and powdered to be stored in polythene bags. The dried leaf powder was analysed for the proximate nutrient and micronutrients like iron, calcium, phosphorous and anti-nutrients such as oxalic acid. Four bakery products were developed incorporating the dried Shepu leaves which covered masala bun, masala rusk, khara biscuits and chilli biscuits.