ABSTRACT

Wheat and acha grains were subjected to preliminary preparatory operations such as washing, cleaning, dehulling, milling etc. The flours obtained were evaluated (analyzed) for functional property and proximate composition. Snacks were prepared from the flours and their blends and sensory evaluation carried out. The results of the functional and proximate properties of the samples showed significant difference (P 'z 0.05) among the samples. Also for the sensory evaluation, there was significant difference (P< 0.05) among the parameters studied with few exceptions. The values for functional properties ranged from 0.59g/ml to 0.60g/ml for bulk density, 1.61g/ml to 2.61;1.41g/ml to 1.76g/ml for water and oil absorption capacities respectively, 11.28g/ml to 16.29g/ml; 6.92g1m1 to 9.24g/ml for foam stability and capacity respectively, 14.'76g1m1 to 18.24g1ml; 8.75g/ml to 13.24g/ml for emulsion capacity and stability respectively; 1.18g/ml to 1.46g/ml for swelling index and 0.50g/ml to 1 .25g/ml for gelation capacity. From the result, wheat recorded higher than acha flour in all functional properties except oil absorption capacity, and gelatioh capacity, but for bulk density, both had the same value of 0.60g/ml. For the proximate property the results for moisture ranged from 9.27% to 10.24%, Ash 6.94% 2.35% crude fibre 8.26% to 1.96%, fat 2.12° to 1.53%, protein 10.28% to 5.72% and then carbohydrate 66.61% to 72.99%. The result of the sensory evaluation showed that products made from wheat/acha were slightly acceptable showing that with more improvement on the attribute of acha for bakery products; the increased nutritional value of the products will be an advantage.