ABSTRACT

Physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of bread spreads produced from blends of peanuts, cashew nuts and avocado pear was evaluated. Bread spreads were produced from different slurry blends (100:0, 80:10:10, 70:20:10, 60:30:10 and 50:40:10) of peanuts, cashew nuts and avocado pear. Bread spread made from 100 % peanut slurry served as the control. Physicochemical properties, proximate composition, mineral content and microbial quality of the bread spread were evaluated using standard laboratory procedures. The data generated were statistically analysed by One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Product of Service Solution (Version 22). The result of proximate composition showed the moisture (6.80 to 8.48 %), fat content (18.04 to 27.01 %), ash (2.10 to 3.00 %), crude fibre (2.26 to 2.80 %), crude protein (15.90 to 20.20 %) and carbohydrate content (40.49 to 52.68 %) of the bread spreads. The physicochemical properties of the bread spreads showed that its pH and total solids ranged from 6.01 to 6.23 and 64.00 to 65.02 % respectively. In terms of mineral content, bread spread made from 100% peanut had the highest zinc (11.16 mg/100g) and phosphorus content (236.89 mg/100g) whereas bread spread made from 50 % peanut, 40 % cashew nuts and 10 % avocado pear blends had the highest calcium (48.20 mg/100g), magnesium (140.31 mg/100g), iron (7.12 mg/100g) and potassium content (38.60 mg/100g). The result of microbial analysis showed that the total bacteria count of the bread spreads ranged from 2.00x104 to 4.00x104 whereas the total fungi count ranged from 1.00x103 to 5.00x103. Furthermore, presence of coliform count was not detected in the bread spread samples. The sensory properties of the bread spreads ranged from 6.25 to 8.15, 6.40 to 7.55, 6.00 to 7.70, 5.40 to 7.90 and 6.00 to 8.05 for appearance, taste, spreadability, mouth-feel and general acceptability with bread spread made from 50 % peanut, 40 % cashew nuts and 10 % avocado pear having the highest mean scores in all the assessed attributes.