EFFECTS OF MOISTURE VARIATIONON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF EXTRUDED DANWAKE FROM THE BLENDS OF PEARL MILLET(Pennisetumglaucum) AND COWPEA (Vignaunguiculata) FLOURS
Abstract
Danwake, an indigenous, stiff dumpling food of the people in the northern part of Nigeria, it is a small dumpling composed of millet flour, and varying proportions of the flours of cowpeas and baobab leaves powder and is perishable because of it high moisture content. It is usually served with ground nut oil and powdered pepper. The effects of feed moisture composition, on the physical properties and consumer acceptability of extruded Danwake from cowpea and peal millet flour blends were investigated. Flours were prepared from the cowpea and millet grains. Three blend ratios of 30:70, 50:50 and 70:30 of cowpea to millet flours respectively were prepared from the flours prior to extrusion. A three- factor three level full factorial design was adopted for the study using a twin Screw, co rotating intermeshed extrusion cooker. The results obtained were significantly different (P≤ 0.05). The bulk density (BD), Wettability (WE) and reconstitution time (REC) ranged from 0.33 g/cm3 to 1.06g/cm3, 3 seconds to 9.5 seconds and 4.0 min to 10.62 minutes respectively which increased as the percentage feed moisture increased. And the expansion ratio (ER) and water solubility index (WSI) ranged from 1.20 to 3.20 and 3.8 to 8.0% respectively which reduce as the percentage feed moisture increased. The extrudate were microbiologically safe for consumption and had not lost its sensory quality attributes throughout the 24 weeks period of storage. The extrusion cooking of Danwake from pearl millet and cowpea flours produced extrudate with improved nutrient, functional and sensory properties when compared with traditional danwake. The blends with high cowpea flour to pearl millet flour (70:30) and extruded at high feed moisture (30%) were most preferred because of the high nutrient and better sensory attributes than the rest.
