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Production and evaluation of noodles from flour blends of cocoyam, breadfruit, and wheat.


C Ubbor
E Nwaogu

Abstract

Flour blends were prepared from two cultivars of cocoyam
( and .
), African breadfruit ( ) and wheat
( ) at different proportions and extruded into
noodles with a locally fabricated and manually operated singlescrew
extruder. Proximate composition and the functional
properties of the different flour blends were evaluated. The
sensory properties of the noodles produced were also determined
using the instant noodle as a control. The flour blends
had proximate compositions ranging from 9.38% to 11.76%
moisture, 1.25% to 3.24% ash, 8.91% to 14.71% crude fibre,
2.33% to 3.54% crude protein, 1.07% to 4.93% fat, and 65.44%
to72.83% carbohydrate. Emulsification capacity and stability of
the flour blends ranged from 10.86ml/g to 18.70ml/g and
7.61ml/g to 17.53ml/g, respectively. The gelatinization capacity
and gelatinization temperature ranged from 0.50g/ml 0.99g/ml
and 77.50ºC 84.00ºC, respectively. Foam capacity and foam
stability of the flour blends were 9.75% - 13.65% and 5.63% 8.72%, respectively. Bulk density of the flour blends was
0.58g/ml 0.59g/ml. The composite flour samples had water
absorption capacity of 1.25ml/g 2.34ml/g and oil absorption
capacity of 1.19ml/g 2.71ml/g. The swelling index and
wettability of the flour blends ranged from 1.93ml/g 2.75ml/g
and 49.00secs 65.00secs, respectively. The results of the sensory
evaluation based on a nine-point Hedonic scale, showed that the
cooked noodle samples had 4.73 6.67 in appearance, 5.27 - 6.53
in flavour, 5.33 6.56 in texture, 5.53 6.73 in taste, 5.20 7.07
palatability, and 5.33 6.87 in general (overall) acceptability.
Noodle sample produced with 80% red cocoyam flour, 10%
African bread fruit flour, and 10% wheat flour) was found to be
the most acceptable to the panelists.

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eISSN: 0189-7241