Exploring the Nutritional Significance of Kolakhar: An In-depth Analysis of a Traditional Assamese Culinary Ingredient

Abstract

Kolakhar is a traditional food ingredient used in different Assamese cuisine and mostly used as an antacid by different communities of Assam. A systematic investigation on chemical and spectroscopic estimation of Kolakhar produced from peels and rhizomes of four banana cultivars with different genomic groups viz. AAA (Amritsagar), AAB (Chenichampa), ABB (Kachkal) and BB (Bhimkal) was carried out to determine how genomic constituents of the cultivars have influence on the properties of Kolakhar. Chemical and mineral constituents of dried banana samples prepared from peels and rhizomes of the cultivars were also estimated during the course of study to  identify the elements responsible for alkalinity in Kolakhar and to identify the changes in concentrations of the elements on burning. The results of the present findings revealed that Kolakhar contained considerable amounts of nutrient, anti-nutrient and mineral elements and these chemical constituents of Kolakhar varied among the cultivars. The four alkaline elements, i.e. calcium, carbonate, potassium and sodium contribute to the basic or alkalinity (higher pH) in Kolakhar. Suitability of the banana cultivars for Kolakhar preparation decreased with increase in the Musa acuminata (A) genomic character and with the increase of Musa balbisiana strains in banana cultivars, pH increases in Kolakhar. Kolakhar prepared from Bhimkal (BB) was found to be the best in quality among four selected cultivars based on mineral contents and pH.