Quality changes in cocoyam flours during storage
Abstract Cocoyam tubers were subjected to two processing methods (fermentation and parboiling) and milled into flour. The samples were stored at 25°C, 35°C, and 45°C and analyzed at 2 weeks interval for 8 weeks for their nutritional, functional, and pasting properties. Data obtained were subjected to multiple analysis of variance. Storage period and its interactive effect with the processing methods had significant (P < 0.05) effects on all the nutritional composition of the flour except for the fat content. Water absorption index, wettability, and bulk density ranged from 1.94–2.72%, 25.30–135.50 sec, and 0.48–0.71 g/cm3, respectively. The entire pasting properties were significantly affected by the storage period while the interaction between storage temperature, processing methods, and storage period affected all the pasting properties except the peak time, peak, and breakdown viscosity. This study showed that processing methods storage periods and storage temperatures produced cocoyam flour with different quality characteristics.
Standardization of Recipes for Preparation of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Flour and its Quality Evaluation during Storage
Pumpkin is one of the important vegetables of genus Cucurbita and family Cucurbitaceae. The genus Cucurbita is comprised of five domesticated species viz. Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita ficifolia and Telfairia occidentalis (Caili et al., 2006). C. moschata, C. maxima and C. pepo are the commonly grown and economically important species (Sharma and Rao, 2013). The common varieties of pumpkin are CM-14, Pusha Vishwas, Arka Chandan, Arka Suryamukhi, CM-350, NDPK-24 (Kalloo et al., 2006). There is a large variation in size, shape and color of pumpkin fruits. The average weight of fruit fluctuates between 8 and 10 kg and sometimes even up to 20 kg have been noticed (Seshadri, 1986). Pumpkin contains 88 per cent moisture, 4.08 per cent protein, 0.46 per cent fat, 15.27 mg/100 g carotene, 14.49 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 1.018 Pumpkin belongs to cucurbitaceae family grown widely in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Pumpkins are the sources of various functional compounds such as carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibres, etc. Therefore, an attempt was made by drying of pumpkin for production of flour and its quality evaluation during storage. Different pre-treatments were applied to pumpkin shreds to standardize the method for preparation of pumpkin flour on the basis of chemical quality. The flour prepared from the best recipe (steam blanching for 5 minutes + dipping in 750 ppm KMS solution for 10 minutes followed by dehydration in mechanical cabinet drier (60±2 for 16-18 hours) was packed in low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches and aluminium laminated pouches (ALP) and evaluated for quality attributes at intervals of 0, 3 and 6 months at ambient temperature. The pumpkin flour can be stored for 6 months at ambient temperature in LDPE as well as ALP with minimal changes in quality attributes. However, ALP was found to be comparatively better packaging material than LDPE pouches. K e y w o r d s
Chemical composition, functional and baking properties of wheat-plantain composite flours
The feasibility of partially replacing wheat flour with plantain flour in bread and biscuit making were investigated. Matured plantains (Musa paradisiaca) were  pulped, blanched, dehydrated and pulverized. The wheat flour (WF) was substituted by plantain four at levels of 5, 10, 20 and 30% and 0, 50, 60, 70, 80 90 and 100% for bread and biscuit making, respectively. The protein content of composite breads ranged from 5.6 – 10.2%. No significant difference was observed in the nutrient  contents of control (wheat bread) and composite bread at 5% level of plantain addition. Water and oil absorption capacities of composite flours  increased with increasing levels of plantain flour in the blend. Emulsion and foam capacities as well as emulsion and foam  stabilities decreased at higher (40–100%) levels of dilution with plantain flour. As the plantain flour content of the composite dough increased beyond 5%, alveograph values for dough resistance to extension (R), extensibility (E) and mechanical work of dough deformation (W) decreased. The oven spring and specific loaf volume decreased significantly with increased plantain  content of blends. Sensory panel rating (80.2%) of the 10% plantain flour content of composite bread was not significantly  different from the score (83.8%) of the 5% level of WF substitution but was significantly different from a score of 88.4% for the  control (Wheat-bread) (P≤0.05). The flow and break strength of wheat-plantain composite biscuits decreased with increasing  dilution of wheat with plantain flour. At 50 and 90% plantain flour substitution level the flow and break strengths were 54.2% and 1.90 kg and 50.8% and 1.20 kg, respectively, while the 100% wheat biscuit had a flow and break strength of 69.4% and 3.45 kg respectively. Thus the mean scores for colour, taste and crispness/aroma were generally high for all biscuits samples containing 0–70% plantain flour. Generally the biscuits were highly rated for colour (75.1%), taste (74.9%) and crispness/aroma, 71.6% of the total score for each characteristic on a 9-point hedonic scale. Technically,  organoleptically acceptable breads and biscuits were formulated from wheat- plantain composite flours using up to 80:20 (w/w)% and 60:40/w/w) ratios of  wheat:plantain flour as maximum acceptable levels of substitution for breads and biscuits, respectively. Key words : Plantain, composite, dough bread and biscuit.