ABSTRACT

Yam flour (elubo) is an important staple food in the tropics but its utilization is limited by low nutrient and consumer acceptability. This research work was carried out to elucidate the possibility of producing high quality elubo from two hybrid water yam genotypes (TDa 00/001 04,TDa 02/00812) using three temperature treatments(50tY,60°C,70°C) for the preparation of amala. Proximate, functional and microbial analysis were carried out on the flour (elubo) samples while sensory evaluation was carried out on the flour 's dough (amala). The results from these analysis and sensory evaluation show that samples dried at 60°C (TI 060,T8 160) had higher nutritional values than other samples (T1050,T1070,T8150,T8170) as regards crude protein content, crude fiber content and carbohydrate content. These samples had low microbial load due to their low moisture content, they also had high emulsion stability which led to their having the finest texture and were generally accepted by sensory panelists. From this study, it was found that production of elubo using water yam (Discorea alata) for the preparation of amala is more appropriate at a drying temperature of 60°C.