ABSTRACT

 The main objective ofthis study was to produce and evaluate the chemical properties and sensory acceptability of cookies from NR-419 cassava cultivar. Freshly harvested cassava tubers were sorted, peeled, washed and grated into a wet mash and then dewatered using a muslin cloth and the cake pulverized. The pulverized cake was oven dried at 60°C for 6 h, milled with a blender, sieved with a 250 pm mesh size. The flour obtained was packaged in air-tight plastic containers and stored at 28±2°C. Commercial wheat flour was substituted with NR-419 cassava flour at different levels from 0-60%. The flour was thoroughly mixed in a blender to obtain a homogenous flour blend. The composite flour samples formulated were separately packaged in a sealed Ziploc bag and preserved in a freezer until needed for analysis. The wheat flour without any substitution with cassava cultivars (100% wheat flour) was used as control. The bulk density (BD) ranged from 0.63 to 0.72 g/ml. W40NR60 (40% wheat, 60% NR-419 cassava) had the least mean value while W60NR40 (100% wheat) had the highest mean value. The result ofthe study revealed that cookies produced from wheat/NR-419 cassava composite flour blends had lower proximate composition while still maintaining their anti-nutritional contents within tolerable levels. The functional properties ofthe flour blends proved their potential suitability in food formulations. Organoleptic assessment of the cookies produced from 80% wheat and 20% NR-419 cassava revealed the highest general acceptability. Generally, cookies produced from the composite blends had better acceptance for all the sensory attributes assessed. Therefore, NR-419 cassava flour can be substituted with wheat flour for cookies production without any negative impact on the sensory attributes