LSC S2:Processing Food from Vegetable Seeds

Processing Food from Vegetable Seeds

Introduction
There is a variety of vegetable seeds produced, sold and consumed in the market today. Have you ever imagined how you can creatively process food products from these seeds and
market them to reduce monotony, avoid wastage and create jobs to earn money? Processed foods from vegetable seeds need to be preserved in order to prolong their shelf life and
enable you to market them.
Do you know the different ways in which these products could be preserved? In this chapter, you will develop skills of processing, preservation and value addition to vegetable seeds. This will enable you to
reduce wastage of the bulk of vegetable seeds produced in your community. It will also improve the income in your society and encourage creativity among you.

Selection of suitable seeds and the right equipment for processing vegetable seeds
It is important for you to select good quality seeds for processing as well as appropriate equipment to enable you achieve products of high value. Theé is a variety of equipment in the market and the
choice depends on the amount of money. The purpose for processing, whether for domestic or commercial also determines the type and size
of equipment.
Some examples of vegetable seeds include those from pumpkin, peanut, simsim, peas, soya bean, lentil, amaranth, beans and sunflower. Some of the equipment used for processing vegetable
seeds include; mortar and pestle, grinding stone, blender, food rocessor and grinding mills. As you study Figure 4.1 you will nderstand further.

Activity 4.1
Selecting suitable seeds and equipment for
processing vegetable seeds
1. Visit a nearby market to find out the varieties of vegetable seeds that are sold and also find out if some of the seeds are processed within the market.
2. Ask the market vendors the names of the seeds, the steps/ stages through which the seeds pass before processing and the equipment that they use. If you had access to all things you need, how would you process those vegetable
seeds?
4.Take photographs of the seeds and the equipment used in processing the seeds using any available ICT material (You can even use your pencil to draw those pictures). Find out from the traders or check through textbooks for other processing equipment.
5. Look out for a few samples of the seeds and glue them on a hard paper/paper plate and name them.
Compile your survey results and discuss them in groups.

6. Present your discussion in class using the photographs/ picture you took/drew.

The processing procedures applied and safety measures taken in processing vegetable seeds
It is important for you to follow the correct procedures when processing vegetable seeds. You also need to take safety measures to avoid contamination of the products with pathogens that are difficult to detect straight away. Food
processing is a process of transformation of raw ingredients into food by physical and chemical means. It is the process of how you produce raw food ingredients into marketable food products
which can be easily prepared and used by the consumers.

Activity 4.2
1. Discussing the processing procedures applied and safety measures taken in processing
vegetable seeds
2. Using the internet orthe library, find out the food processing procedures applied.
Discuss the safety measures that are taken in processing vegetable seeds.
3.In a group, discuss your findings and write them on amanila/ flipchart.
4.Present the findings to the class.

Making food products from vegetable seeds Did you know that you can make a variety of products
from vegetable seeds? The processed products can be used in many ways to avoid monotony in our diets. Most are rich in mineral elements, proteins and vitamins and thus can be useful
supplements to the diet.
You can process food products from seeds like groundnuts, simsim, sunflower, soya beans, beans, cowpeas, lentils and amaranth. These products may include cooking Oil, powder,

1.Making food products from vegetable seeds
In groups brainstorm the various products that are got from vegetable seeds.
2.Try out some of the recipes given in your groups.
3.Select a vegetable seed and write down the procedure for making a food product from it on a manila/chart
notebook.
4.Make the food product in your groups.
5.Present this to the class.

Some processed vegetable seeds

Making Amaranth flour at home

• Measure 2 cups of amaranth seeds and sort them to remove
• dirt particles, small stones and husk.
• Transfer the amaranth seeds into a broad non-stick pan.
• Roast the amaranth seeds for about 5-7 minutes on medium
• heat while stirring occasionally.
• Cool completely and transfer into a mixer-jar of the blender.
• Blend into a smooth flour or may be left a little rough. This
• flour is rich in protein and high in dietary fibre.

Bean seeds
Beans are among the most versatile and commonly eaten foods thoughout the world, and many varieties are grown everywhere. It is because of their nutrient content that beans help to improve
the diet quality and long-term health of those who consume
them.

Making instant bean flour at home

• Sort out the beans and wash them.
• Soak the beans using hot water as it is quicker.
• Place beans in a large stock pot and cover with fresh, cold water.
• Simmer gently to avoid split skins. Add warm water periodically during cooking to keep beans covered and avoid them from expanding. Stir beans occasionally to prevent sticking during cooking add onions, herbs and spices like parsley, oregano, garlic, and thyme for flavour towards end of cooking time.
• Beans should be tender but not mushy. Drain the beans using a colander.
• Dry the beans in a moderate oven or under sun until they are completely dry and process them in a blender or grain mill, or mortar and pestle for fine powder and blend again.
• Use or store in an air-tight container.
• Making Soya bean beverage
• Sort the beans.
• Roast until golden brown.
• Cool and grind using a grinder of a blender/mortar until well
• Sift and grind for fine powder.
• Add a variety of spices of your taste.
• Store covered in an airtight container.

Soya-bean flour
1 cup of soya beans

• Sort beans and grind in a grinder or blender, or grain mill oround in a mortar.
• For fine powder, sift and grind the coarser mixture again and repeat until it is all fine.
• Use or store in a clean container.

Soya bean milk
Soya is cnnsidered to be the perfect substitute to meat and is packed with proteins and other essential nutrients. Soya beans are soaked, ground fine and strained to a fluid called soya bean milk. Plain, unfortified soya milk is an excellent source of high quality protein and B vitamins, but
lacks calcium and vitamin D. Fortified versions, however, are
available.

Soya milk can be found in non-refrigerated containers or in the dairy case at the supermarket. It is also sold as a powder to be mixed with water.
Soya milk is an excellent milk substitute for people who are lactose intolerant. It can used as a beverage or in place of milk in cooking.
Soya milk may be used in vegetarian cookery to replace diary milk. It is used to make yoghurt, smoothies, shakes and many other dishes.

• 1 kg soya beans.
• 1 litre water.
• 4 tablespoons of sugar.
• Flavour of choice (ginger, lemon grass, mint, ‘mujaja’).

• Sort the soya beans and wash them.
• Soak for not more than 12 hours to avoid fermentation.
• Remove the softened beans from the water and remove the
• outer skin.
• Add 750ml (3 cups) of water and blend or pound using a
• blender or mortar until smooth.
• Strain the blended/ground soya using a strainer or cloth to
• extract the soya milk and add 250ml (1 cup of water).
• You can boil with flavouring of your choice to improve the
• flavour and serve with any beverage and sugar.

Making Soya sausage
Ingredients

• 500g de-hulled boiled soya beans.
• 1 finely chopped onion.
• tablespoon cooking oil.
• 250g rice flour.
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice.
• 1 teaspoon pepper.
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce.
• 1 tablespoon tomato sauce.
• Salt to taste.
• 3 finely chopped garlic cloves.
• 150ml water.

Procedure:

• Put all the ingredients in a food processor/blender/mortar
• except rice flour and water.
• Process/blend/pound until the mixture is smooth.
• Add the rice flour and water and knead to form smooth
• dough.
• Cut cling film and place a tablespoonful of the soya mixture
• and shape into a sausage.
• Use your hands to roll the sausage in the cling film tightly.
• Tie knots on both ends of the cling film.
• Keep the sausages in a refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow
• them to chill.
• When ready for cooking peel off the cling film then fry, bake
• or grill the sausages.

Alternative method:

• You can use the soya residue from soya-milk production or
• soya powder.
• Add wheat flour and an egg as binders and fat, for example
• shredded suet or lard to make it pliable easily.
• Add spices and seasonings to taste; if using onions and
• garlic extract the juice out before adding or cook them first.

Thoroughly mix the sausage mixture and push it into a sausage casing and if casing is not available, then divide into balls, shape and roll, then cover with parchment paper and enclose in an aluminium foil or roll individual sausage in egg and fry.

Making roasted simsim

• Winnow or just sort the simsim seeds.
• Wash well and dry under the sun until they are slightly damp not completely dry.
• Roast in a pan until seeds are fully expanded and a bit fawn brown.
• Pour in a tray to allow air circulation.
• Use or store in a container or grind in a blender or grinding
• mill to paste and use in other rectpes like cake, topping for
• bread, biscuits, enriching baby foods and vegetables.

Roasted pumpkin seeds

• Wash, rinse well and dry the seeds from pumpkins.
• When completely dry, add salt and roast on moderate heat
• until a bit brown and dry.
• Pour on a tray to cool.
• Use as a snack, well stored in an airtight tin or pack using an
• attractive package and sell.

Packaging, labelling, marketing and selling processed vegetable seed products
Packaging is the science, art and technology Of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale and end use. Packaging contains, protects, preserves, transports, informs and sells. This helps you to avoid misbranding and adulteration of your food product.
Labelling enables the consumer to get accurate information about your product to guide their choice.
Food marketing brings together the food producer and the consumer through a chain of marketing activities. When your products have been packaged well and labelled, the next thing is for you to ensure that it reaches the consumer by creating awareness and availing the product for consumers.

Activity 4.4
1.Packaging and labelling food products from vegetable seeds
2.Look around for packages of different products within the school and pictures from old newspapers and magazines.
3.Study and discuss the different packaging materials and the information on the packages.
4.In groups, package and label your vegetable seed products that you made.
5. Market and sell these products to the teachers, school administrators, visitors in the school and fellow learners in the school as well as your parents.
6.List down your success and failure, and discuss how to go about them.

Applying recipes to use the processed products and make dishes
You can use the products that you processed from the different vegetable seeds to make many dishes. Depending on your creativity you can process a variety of interesting dishes. This could help you to solve the problem of unemployment which is very common among the youth. It could also help you to

raise money to acquire some of the items that you may lack. It also helps you to use the vegetable seeds that are usually in abundance during harvesting season.
The seed products could be used to make many dishes including bread, cakes, soup, paste and snacks.

Activity 4.5
Using processed seed products in recipes to make dishes
In groups,
1.Use the seed products that you have processed and labelled.
2.Write down the recipe for making a selected dish on a manila/flip chart.
3.Follow your recipe and make the dish that you have
4.Present your dishes to the class and discuss the steps
that you followed.
5.Talk about the challenges that you encountered and how you intend to overcome them.

Method

• Add bean flour, salt, yeast and any dry herbs into a mixing bowl and stir.
• Pour in the water and mix well with a wooden spoon.

• Pour the batter into an oiled baking tin and bake; you may sprinkle with roasted simsim seeds. Bake at 1800 for about 40-50 minutes.

• 1 cup/125gm of soya
• flour.
• 2 cups/250gm of
• wheat flour.
• 1 cup/125gm of silver
• fish powder.
• 1 egg.
• 2 tablespoon/50gm of
• margarine.
• 125gm of sugar.
• 2 tablespoons of
• baking powder.
• 1 lemon.
• 250ml of cooking oil.
• A pinch of salt.
• 250ml of water.

Method

• Measure all ingredients well, grate lemon rind on a plate and squeeze the juice.
• Sieve wheat flour with baking powder in a mixing bowl Add
• soya flour and silver fish powder and mix them well.
• Rub in margarine, add lemon rind, sugar, salt and continue rubbing in.
• Make it well and add beaten egg; using a knife, mix thoroughly.
• Make it well and add most of the water, and knead the mixture well.
• Divide into 2 balls and first roll out one ball; not very thin but a little thick.
• Cut into strips with a knife and then cut the long strips into small dices.
• Heat oil and deep fry them until they are golden brown.

• Drain them on paper or colander, cool and store in a covered container.

Ingredients
125gm of roasted
simsim.
100gm of sugar.

Warm sugar in a shallow pan until it is melted, do not boil it. Add roasted simsim and stir and carry it off the fire.
Using a tablespoon, scoop the sugar and simsim mixture. Deep your hands in cold water and quickly could into a ball or roll out and use a round cutter, do not allow the mixture to
coolor else it will not hold together.

Products from Simsim
Sweet Potatoes with Black Simsim
Chunks of potatoes are dipped in caramel and finished off with black sesame! You need sweet potatoes, oil, sesame seeds, sugar syrup or caramel, water, and soya. Sweet potatoes tossed with soya caramel and black sesame
seeds.
Ingredients
1 cup of sweet potatoes, peeled and diced.

• Oil to fry.
• 2 tablespoons of black sesame seeds.

• Fruit slices, to garnish.
• Sugar syrup/soy.
• Caramel.
• 1 tablespoon of soya.
• 3 tablespoons of water.
• 1/3 cup of sugar.

Method

• In a pan, add oil and fry the sweet-potato cubes till they are
• golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.
• In a deep bottomed pan, add soy sauce, water and sugar
• Cook till sugar melts. Keep stirring continuously till the syrup
• is light brown in colour (resembles the colour of caramel).
• Add the fried sweet potatoes.
• Cook till well coated.
• Add the black sesame seeds. Toss well.
• Garnish with some kiwi slices or any fruit of your choice.
• Serve.

Simsim Toast

Spice mixture topped on bread slices, coated with sesame and fried golden.

Ingredients

• slices of bread.
• cup of simsim seeds.
• tablespoons of garlic, finely chopped.
• tablespoons of red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped.
• Vegetable oil for deep frying.

Method

• Pound the red chilli, and garlic, mix well.
• Cut out into triangles.
• Neatly top each triangle with a generous amount of the
• mixture.
• Dip the bread from the topping side into the simsim seeds.
• Then deep fry till it is golden brown in colour.
• Serve hot.

Pumpkin-seeds recipes

Ingredients

• lh cups of raw pumpkin seeds.
• 21/2 cups of flour.

• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.
• 2 teaspoons of salt.
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
• % teaspoon of black pepper.
• 11/2 cups brown sugar.
• 11/2 cups sugar.
• 250g/5 tablespoons margarine.
• 2 large eggs.
• 1 1/4 cups of bittersweet chocolate.
• Chunks or chips (optional).

Method

1. Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 2200C. Toast pumpkin seeds on a large-rimmed baking sheet on upper rack, tossing occasionally, until golden brown, 8—10 minutes/roast on a charcoal stove. Let it cool.
   2. Meanwhile, whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and pepper in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown sugar, granulated
   sugar, and margarine in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Reduce speed to low; add dry ingredients
   in 3 additions, mixing until well blended after each. Fold in chocolate if used and the pumpkin seeds.
   3.Divide the dough into 18 balls (about % cup each) and divide between 2 greased and lined baking sheets, spacing 3″ apart. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are slightly browned and firm but centers are still soft, 18—20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool.

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seed Butter
Using ingredients like almonds, pumpkin seeds, cumin, and honey give it a sweet and spicy taste.

• Ingredients
• 1 cup of whole almonds.
• 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin seeds (shelled).
• 1 tablespoon of honey.
• 1/4 cup of olive oil.

• 1/4 teaspoon of cumin.
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger.
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Method

• Place all ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor.
• Check your machine’s instruction manual for how to process nuts and seeds.
• The mixture will start out crunchy but will turn into a smooth paste.
• Be careful not to overheat your machine by turning the button on and off.

Spiced or Chocolate Pumpkin-Seed Milk
Just like you can turn any nut or seed into butter, you can also make nutritious milk substitutes. Soak pumpkin seeds and blend into a mix of water and strain. Add cinnamon, cloves, vanilla,
and syrup or chocolate powder for variation.

Vegan fluffy pancake
Ingredients

• 170g/60z of self-raising flour.
• teaspoon of baking powder.
• % teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
• 2 teaspoons of sugar.
• % teaspoon of salt.
• 5 teaspoons of vegan pancake mix.
• 4 teaspoons of soya milk (or other non-dairy milk).
• 2 teaspoons of light olive oil, plus extra for frying.
• % teaspoon of vinegar.
• Honey, fresh fruit or jam, to serve.

Method

For the mix, combine all the ingredients in an airtight container and shake until thoroughly combined. Store in a cool, dry place until needed.
To make a single serving of pancakes, put the vegan pancake mix into a bowl and make a small well in the centre. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Heat a frying pan over a medium—high heat. Use a piece of kitchen paper to wipe a film of oil over the surface.
When the pan is hot, add dessert spoonfuls of the batter to the pan (allowing some room for spreading). Cook the pancakes until you can see bubbles forming and popping on
the surface and the bottom in a dark golden-brown colour. Flip the pancakes and cook for 1 minute on the other side. Repeat the process with the remaining batter. Serve the pancakes piled on plates. Pour honey on top or serve with fresh fruit or jam. Eat immediately.

Crunchy Roasted peas

• 15-oz can of peas.
• tablespoon of olive oil.
• teaspoon of spice or spice blend of choice (more/less to taste).

Try dried spices like chillpowder, cumin, curry powder,
cayenne, cinnamon, or fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary,
oregano.
Oven-roasting the peas give them a cnspy texture.

Preheat oven to 40006
Strain the chickpeas and rinse well, draining as much water as possible. Lay the chickpeas on a paper towel or dish cloth, and pat dry to absorb the water. For crispier chickpeas, roll
the towel over the beans to remove the thin skins (this step is optional but it Will further eliminate moisture when baking).
Once fully dry, line a baking sheet and place the chickpeas in the oven to roast for 15 minutes (avoid crowding the baking
sheet, especially if doubling the recipe). Remove chickpeas from the oven and drizzle with olive oil
and sprinkle over the spices, making sure they are evenly coated. Place them back Into the oven and roast for another 15 minutes (you may need more or less time, just keep an
eye on them so that they dont burn).
When done, turn off the oven and keep its door slightly open as it cools down. Note that the chickpeas Will be crunchiest following roasting, but can be stored for a few days at room
temperature.

Bean Porridge
Ingredients

• 600g of bean.
• 1 cooking spoon of cooking oil.
• 1 small green pepper.
• 2 carrots.
• 2 red onions.
• Black pepper (to taste).
• 1 big stock cube.
• Salt (to taste).

• Rinse the beans in plenty of cool water.
• Rinse and dice the green pepper and onions.
• Scrape, rinse and dice the carrots.
• Put the beans in a pan, pour a generous quantity of water
• because beans can absorb lots of water.
• Add the stock cube, black pepper and start cooking.
• When the beans are very soft, add the onions, carrots,
• cooking oil and salt and continue cooking.
• When it heats up, add the green peppers.
• Cover and let it heat up again.
• Once it heats up again, stir and serve when it has cooled
• down to a comfortable temperature.

Aim to have the bean porridge a bit watery because when it
cools down, it becomes thicker.

Project work
Work in your groups to process, cost and sell products made from vegetable seeds with the guidance of your teacher.