QUALITY EVALUATION OF COMPLEMENTARY FOODS PRODUCED FROM BLENDS OF FONIO, TIGER NUTS AND AKIDI (Vigna unguiculata) FLOURS

Abstract

The research focused on creating and evaluating complementary foods using blends of fonio, tiger nut, and akidi flours. The process involved fermenting fonio and melting tiger nut and akidi before processing them into flour. The flours were then blended in different ratios, and the resulting composite flour samples underwent various analyses, including proximate, functional, and sensory properties. The proximate composition results of the complementary flour samples showed variations in moisture content (ranging from 9.76% to 10.36%), fat (2.34% to 2.92%), ash (3.04% to 3.25%), fibre (2.20% to 2.87%), protein (6.14% to 7.23%), and carbohydrate (74.28% to 75.69%). These variations were significant (p<0.05) among all the samples. Additionally, the functional properties such as water absorption capacity (ranging from 80.26% to 92.94%), bulk density (0.47 to 0.75g/ml), oil absorption capacity (60.41 to 69.04%), gelation capacity (14.47 to 19.94%), and emulsifying capacity (47.30 to 49.89%) also displayed significant differences (p<0.05) among the samples, except for bulk density. The sensory evaluation indicated that the best complementary gruel was produced from flour samples blended with 15% tiger nut and 15% akidi flour. Overall, the study confirmed that high-quality complementary food could be derived from combining fonio, tiger nut, and akidi flours.