Quality Characteristic of Kunu Produced from Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato for Empowerment of Rural Women in Nigeria
Abstract
Kunu is a non-alcoholic beverage consumed in Nigeria, and originated from the northern part of the country. It is being hawked by mostly women to earn a living, and originally produced using grains like millet and sorghum. Following the popularization of orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), Kunu was produced using variety 440293 of OFSP obtained from National Root Crops Research Institute Umudike. The production of Kunu from orange fleshed sweet potato was done at different fermentation periods of 0 hrs (Sample A), 6 hrs (Sample B), and 12 hrs (Sample C). The biochemical, microbial, sensory characterizations and cost analysis were carried out. The results showed that β-carotene content of Kunu was still retained compared to the fresh tuber sample. The sensory evaluation showed that sample B and C were most preferred to sample A in general acceptability, however, sample A ranked highest in appearance. The microbial analysis revealed that the microbial load of Kunu was low with 1.01CFU/mL x 106, 1.03 CFU/mL x106 and 1.04 CFU/mL x106 for A, B and C respectively. The cost analyses showed that Kunu from OFSP would be helpful in improving the income of rural women in Northern Nigeria.
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