Search

Borassus aethiopum (African palmyra palm (APP)) fruit is an underutilized tropical fruit but has potential food applications. In the present work, the suitability of APP fruit–wheat composite flour in the development of noodles was investigated. The fresh APP fruit pulp was separated, oven-dried at 60°C and milled into flour. The obtained flour was mixed with commercial wheat flour to obtain three composite flours with 5%, 10% and 15% of APP fruit flour. The functional properties and proximate composition of the composite flours were determined. The cooking properties and consumer preference of the noodles developed were also evaluated. The cooking yield, water uptake and gruel solid loss ranged from 259.81% to 300.97%, 159.81% to 200.97% and 11.52% to 17.11%, respectively. The water absorption capacities, swelling power and the solubility indices of the flours ranged from 197.10% to 492.66%, 621.99% to 734.91% and 4.53 to 26.48%, respectively. On the 7-point hedonic scale, the flavour, smell, colour and overall acceptability ranged between 4.2 and 5.3, 4.8 and 5.65, 4.05 and 5.3 and 4.10 and 5.03, respectively. The inclusion of APP fruit flour at 5% level yielded noodles with enhanced nutritional quality and highest overall consumer acceptability.

The objective of this study was to determine the functional and pasting properties of yellow maize (M)-soya bean (S)-pumpkin (P) composite flours and the sensory attributes of breakfast cereals prepared from the flour formulations. Two forms of soya bean seeds; un-soaked (USB) and soaked, dehulled and boiled soya bean (SSB) were used for this study. Four blends of composite flours in the proportions 65:35:0, 60:35:5, 55:35:10 and 50:35:15 (M: USB/SSB: P) were formulated. Results of the functional properties revealed that, water absorption capacity, swelling power and solubility, were in the range of 161.06–269.46%, 400.00–480.29% and 6.80–13.43% respectively and increased pumpkin pulp flour substitution resulted in an increase in the functional properties and viscosities. Sensory evaluation showed that significant differences (p 0.05) between the control (USB) and the 10% pumpkin-substituted breakfast cereals in terms of the overall mean values. The addition of pumpkin pulp to maize–soya bean blend significantly improved the functional and pasting properties of the flour blends and sensorial properties of breakfast cereals were acceptable by panellists.