Food Processing Characteristics of Water Yam (Dioscorea alata) and Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Flour Blend Used Locally for Production of Concessionaries

摘要

The performance of blends of water yam (Dioscorea alata) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) flours for preparation confectionaries was investigated. Water yam and cowpea were processed into flours and 100% water yam flour served as the control sample. However, water yam cake, chinchi and bread were produced using water yam flour and cowpea flour which were blended at different ratio (ie. 100%:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50). The proximate analysis and functional properties of the water yam-cowpea flour were determined. The sensory evaluation showed that samples 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30 were the most acceptable because they contained little quantity of cowpea flour. The scores obtained for overall acceptability of the confectionaries ranged from extremely dislike to extremely like, indicating that the cake samples were generally liked by the panelists. This study showed that the panelists like the sample 50:50 more than the other samples. Therefore, the cowpea fortified yam flour could contribute to quality protein intake in populations consuming yam as a staple, due to its indispensible amino acid content.