Abstract

Porridge is a popular cereal flour-based food product for children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Compositing of cereal flours to improve their nutritional composition is done. However, the enrichment of such flours with naturally nutrient-rich plant products is poorly developed. A study was conducted to evaluate the acceptability and sensory attributes of newly formulated extruded composite flours containing maize, sorghum, grain amaranth, baobab and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Seven extruded formulations optimized for nutritional composition were developed. Twelve trained panellists evaluated the sensory attributes and overall acceptability of the composite flours determined on a 9-point hedonic scale. Formulation of the composite flours significantly (p<0.05) affected scores of colour, flavour and overall acceptability with the mean score ranging between 5.7 and 7.4. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) on overall acceptability between extruded and non-extruded composite flours but extruded flours had significantly higher scores on texture (p<0.05). The comparison of the newly formulated composite flours with the conventional flours showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in the overall acceptability; therefore, they can be potentially adopted. All the sensory attributes contributed to the overall acceptability of the formulations, with mouthfeel and flavour having higher relationship with overall acceptability. It is concluded that these attributes are desirable characteristics of any new naturally fortified cereal formulation.

Key words: Extruded, composite flour, formulation, sensory evaluation.