Production and quality evaluation of fat fried and baked akara from cowpea and bambara nut paste blends.:- Amobi, Kosisochukwu C

ABSTRACT

Akara was prepared with 100'% cowpea paste as control, while another batch of the paste was substituted with Bambara nut flour in the ratios of 95:5, 90:10 and 50:50, seasoned, whipped for 10 min, scooped into hot oil, allowed to fry for 5 min, scooped from the hot oil and allowed to drain and cool before the analysis. Proximate, micronutrient, phytochemicals and sensory evaluation were carried out using standard analytical methods. Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis to assess the difference. Results showed that with increasing substitution levels of Bambara nut flour, protein, fibre, ash and carbohydrate increased while moisture, fat and energy decreased for both fried and baked samples. All the minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, iron, and zinc) decreased in both fried and baked samples. Vitamin B3 increased while vitamins A, Bl, B2 and C decreased for both samples. Phytate increased and tannin decreased for both samples. For fried samples, samples with substitution levels of 95:5 and 90:10 had acceptability level of 7/0 higher than equal blended sample (6). For baked sample, equal blended sample was rated (6.0) higher than the rest (5.0). All the nutrient content of the baked Akara were higher than the fried counterparts. This study showed that partial substitution of cowpea paste with Bambara nut flour and baking can produce acceptable Akara with improved nutrient content.