A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Industrial Technology lecturer and Associate Professor has developed a flour made from pumpkins. According to Noor Aziah Abdul Aziz, who developed the pumpkin flour for bread with her partner, there is difference in taste from traditional wheat flour, but it does offer more health benefits.
She claims that the pumpkin flour is a good source of dietary fiber, is a natural colorant, and, due to its beta carotene content, has antioxidant properties.
Noor Aziah took three years to develop the flour. She chose flour because bread “is one of the most widely consumed food products by all age groups.”
The pumpkin flour won the gold medal at the 18th International Invention, Innovation, Industrial Design and Technology Exhibition (Itex) 2007 held in Kuala Lumpur in May. It also won Noor Aziah the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Award for Best Woman Inventor at the exhibition.
