Studies of harnessing quality attributes of condiment powder (IRU) processed from soy (<i>Glycine max</i>) and African locust bean (<i>Parkia biglobosa</i>) seeds

Abstract

This study harnessed the quality attributes of condiment powder (iru) processed from soy and African locust bean seeds using calabash and plastic as fermenting containers. The soy and African locust bean-condiment powders were comparatively evaluated with referencecondiment based upon storability for 8-weeks on moisture gain or loss and microbial counts, and 3-weeks colour evaluation were carried out. Sensory analysis was done using students of the Department of Food Technology, University of Ibadan. The design of the experiment was carried out using completely randomized design. The results revealed increase in moisture throughout the weekly storage study as the concluding 8-week showed highest in referencecondiment(14.78 %) and lower in soy-condiment powder (10.03 %) produced in plastic. Microbial count ranged from 4.74 to 5.07 log₁₀ cfu/mL and no detection of fungi in all condiment powder samples. However, coliform was present only in control-condiment (0.73 log10 cfu/mL). Weekly storage studies on total viable count of soy and African locustcondiment powders ranged from 4.74-5.07 (week 0); 4.93-5.05 (week 1); 4.66-5.47 (week 2); 4.11-5.07 (week 3); 4.20-5.59 (week 4); 4.51-5.76 (week 5); 4.75-5.88 (week 6); 4.01-5.28 (week 7) and 4.48-5.62 (week 8) log10 cfu/mL. The degree of lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) on soy and locust bean-condiment powders produced in a plastic had optimum scores but lower in reference-condiment. General acceptability was highest in soy-condiment powder produced in plastic. Plastic container can be use for the processing of condiment powder without any adverse effect on the final product.

Keywords: African locust bean, soy bean, containers, powdered condiment, moisture gain