Influence of maturity, smoking, and drying of fresh maize on sensory acceptability and nutritional content of the developed porridges.

This study investigated the potential of using the underutilized fresh maize in the preparation of porridge to contribute toward complementary feeding of children, and reductions in pre-harvest losses. Fresh maize was harvested at different stages of maturity, blanched, smoked, and sun dried before milling into flours that were blended with soy flours for preparation of test porridges. The test flours were analyzed using the Association of the Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods to determine their nutrient composition before preparation of the porridges. A trained consumer panel of 12 people, mothers and nursery school children tasted the porridges to rank acceptability and preference. Analysis of nutritional data showed that the test flours contained similar amounts of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates as the commonly used dried maize-soy flour blends. All the test porridges were generally accepted by the mothers and children due to the unique smoky and roasted aroma, brown color and the sweeter flavor even without the addition of sugar. Grainy texture and the presence of residues were the only unacceptable attributes in some of the test porridges. In conclusion, fresh maize-soy floor blends can be potentially used in complementary feeding of children at home and school as an alternative to other traditional maize flours. Optimization and fortification can help make the flours nutrient-dense and most appropriate for child feeding at scale.

Use of fungal alpha amylase and ascorbic acid in the optimisation of grain amaranth-wheat flour blended bread.

Grain amaranth-wheat flour bread was optimised using ascorbic acid (0.03% dry weight basis) and fungal α-amylase (10 ppm) to investigate their effects on sensory properties of the breads. Six formulations were used in the ratios of 5:95, 10:90, 15:85, 20:80 and 25:75 grain amaranth to wheat flour compositions, while the control bread had 100% wheat flour. Consumer acceptability and preference ranking tests were conducted to describe and evaluate preference and acceptability of the breads. Analysis of consumer acceptability data revealed that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) for all the samples in all the attributes tested. Overall consumer acceptability results showed no difference at 25% for all improvers. Principal component analysis for descriptive tests performed by a trained panel demonstrated variations among the breads in graininess, elasticity, crumb colour, stickiness and crumb moistness regardless of the improvers used. The study concludes that using improvers to optimise grain amaranth-wheat flour bread can help improve both the nutritional and organoleptic properties of bread.

Sensory evaluation and consumer acceptance of naturally and lactic acid bacteria-fermented pastes of soybeans and soybean-maize blends.

Fermented pastes of soybeans and soybean-maize blends were evaluated to determine sensory properties driving consumer liking. Pastes composed of 100% soybeans, 90% soybeans and 10% maize, and 75% soybeans and 25% maize were naturally fermented (NFP), and lactic acid bacteria fermented (LFP). Lactic acid bacteria fermentation was achieved through backslopping using a fermented cereal gruel, thobwa. Ten trained panelists evaluated intensities of 34 descriptors, of which 27 were significantly different (P < 0.05). The LFP were strong in brown color, sourness, umami, roasted soybean-and maize-associated aromas, and sogginess while NFP had high intensities of yellow color, pH, raw soybean, and rancid odors, fried egg, and fermented aromas and softness. Although there was consumer (n = 150) heterogeneity in preference, external preference mapping showed that most consumers preferred NFP. Drivers of liking of NFP samples were softness, pH, fermented aroma, sweetness, fried egg aroma, fried egg-like appearance, raw soybean, and rancid odors. Optimization of the desirable properties of the pastes would increase utilization and acceptance of fermented soybeans.