ABSTRACT

The study was undertaken to determine the chemical composition of the flours and ashes of four plant wastes and potash (trona) and determine the sensory attributes of the African salad prepared with their ashes as emollients for (ngu). Green pawpaw leaves, cowpea husk, palm bunch fibre and plantain peel were sorted, washed and sun dried.  Flours and ashes were obtained from the samples by milling and open air incineration respectively. The proximate, mineral, antinutrient and functional properties of the samples were determined using standard methods and all the data was analyzed using IBM SPSS software version 20.0. Twenty semi-trained panelists were used for the sensory evaluation of the African salad prepared with the ashes of the plant wastes as emollients. Significant differences within the results were accepted at 5% probability level (p<0.05). Plantain peel flour contained the highest carbohydrate and crude protein values of 59.46% and 10.85% . Cowpea husk flour had the highest fiber content (48.46%) while potash had the least (0.20%). Pawpaw leave flour recorded the highest fat content (11.26%) while cowpea husk had the least (3.61%) content. Potash recorded the highest moisture and ash contents of 14.93% and 70.51% . Pawpaw leave ash contained more calcium (3778.72mg/100g) and magnesium (1129.01mg/100g) than the other ash and flour samples, which also contained appreciable quantities of calcium and magnesium especially the ash samples. Tannin content of the samples were low ranging from 0.00% in cowpea husk ash to 0.135% in pawpaw leaf flour while phenol content of the samples ranged from 2.47% in cowpea husk ash to 9.12% in plantain peel flour. The ash and flour samples were soluble in water having solubility values that ranged from 3.29% in cowpea husk flour to 66.55% in plantain peel ash and had low foam capacities that ranged from 0.98% in palm bunch ash to 6.37% in plantain peel flour. The parameters studied varied significantly (p<0.05) among the samples. The sensory attributes (colour, texture, taste, flavour and general acceptability) of the African salad prepared with the ashes of these plant wastes had high scores that ranged from 4.55 to 6.75  on a seven point hedonic scale, although the African salad prepared with pawpaw leaf ash and plantain peel ash had better colours, flavours and tastes than the other plant wastes including the control (palm bunch fibre)  African salad dishes prepared with the ashes of these plant wastes were highly and generally accepted showing that these ashes can conveniently be used to replace trona (potash) in forming the emulsions for the preparation of African salad.