PHYSICAL, FUNCTIONAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF YAM FLOUR ‘ELUBO’ IN GBOKO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, BENUE STATE

Bashiru, L, Suleiman, A.A, Iheikhena, O.W
Publisher: A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF THE FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL), UMUNZE, ANAMBRA STATE {"id":6,"volume_name":"Vol 5 Number 2","created_at":null,"updated_at":null,"url":"volumes\/5.jpg"} (2): 1118-0315: doi: January 2017 Published in 2017

Yams (Dioscorea species) which are regarded as traditional foods are consumed in various ways but mostly consumed as yam flour in the South west and Middle belt region of Nigeria. This study investigated the physical, functional and sensory properties of representative samples of 70% of the yam flour sold in the Tse-Kucha-market, Gboko. They were compared with freshly produced yam flour. The particle size, colour, pH, bulk density, swelling power, dispersibility water absorption index, pasting properties and sensory evaluation were investigated. Particle size was found to have significant effect (P<0.05) on the functional and sensory properties of all the yam flour samples. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the pH (6.25 to 6.93), bulk density (0.54 to 0.72) g/ml, swelling power (5.45 to 8.05), dispersibility (66.00 to 72.50)%, water absorption index (99.206 to 245.24) and final viscosity (158.04 to 258.50) Relative value Units (RVUs). There were significant difference (P<0.05) in the sensory panelists scores for the market samples and the reference sample with respect to sensory attributes of colour, taste, mouldability, texture and aroma. The study shows that the yam flour samples sold in Tse-Kucha market were significantly different (p<0.05) in terms of the physical, functional and sensory properties of the collected samples.

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