Millet Milling Technologies

Abstract

Millets, also known as “Nutricereals” in India, is gaining importance due to the various health benefits it offers. Millets can be broadly classified into grains having husk layers and those with only seed coat. Processing of these millets into grains either for consumption or development of value added products is of importance. The millet grains with husk are cleaned, destoned, dehusked and the separated husk is blown off. The mixture of dehusked and unhusked grains are separated using a separator. The unhusked grains are sent back for dehusking. Dehusked grains (without husk) are polished, normally in stages in order to reduce breakage, and polished grains are passed through a sifter to remove any brokens. The intact or complete grains (also known as “head grains”) are then colour sorted (optional) prior to weighing and bagging. Grains with only seed coat, with the exception of finger millet (ragi), are conditioned with water to soften the seed coat. These grains are then polished to remove the seed coat. Aspiration of the mixture removes the lighter seed coat material and the grains are then graded to remove brokens. These whole grains are either used as is, or pulverized into flour and converted into products. In a technology developed by CSIR – CFTRI, the endosperm portion of finger millet grains are hardened by appropriate processing. Then, the outer layers are removed using abrasive principle. The grains are then further processed by the consumer in value added products. In order to empower farmers and marginal growers, CSIR – CFTRI has developed a pedal-operated millet dehuller. The drawing of this machine has been put up on the Institute’s website as a free technology. Interested entrepreneurs can download the drawing, fabricate and market the same. All the components of the machine are available indigenously.