Abstract

A research work was carried out to evaluate the functional properties and quality of “Kokoro” blended with defatted Beniseed cake. Maize flour and Beniseed cake were mixed thoroughly in various proportions; AZO- (100%Maize), MBK-(90:10), EJT-(80:20),SIL-(70:30) and LMA-(60:40) Maize: Beniseed seed cake, respectively. The blends were each made into a thick paste, manually shaped into a noodle shape of about 3 mm diameter and deep fried in hot vegetable oil (170^°C) for 5 min. Chemical, functional and pasting properties of the blended flour were evaluated. The result showed that the crude protein increased with increase in the proportion of the Defatted Beniseed flour (DBF) in the “Kokoro” samples AZO 5.32 ± 0.08^e to LMA 13.42 ±0.11^a. Results revealed that a significant difference (P<0.05) in all the functional properties where sample AZO (100% maize) had the highest value of 0.51 g/ml and 0.68 g/ml for bulk and loose density, respectively. The water absorption capacity followed a similar trend like oil absorption capacity. The pasting characteristics of the Maize-Beniseed blend gave a peak viscosity ranging from 1.42 RVU to 27.55 RVU, where sample LMA (60:40) had the highest value. The study revealed that the increase in Beniseed cake caused general decrease in gelling stability. The sensory results indicated that increase in Beniseed cake cause decreased in the score attributes in terms of taste, colour and crispiness of the “Kokoro” -Beniseed blend. The products were subjected to sensory evaluation by adopting preference-ranking test and analyzing the data using ANOVA. No significant difference (P ≤0.05) was found among the samples for overall acceptability. Data collected from all experiments were in triplicate, and subjected to statistical analysis, using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Differences between the treatment means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range tests.

Key words: Kokoro, beniseed cake, sesame indicum, functional properties.