Drying has been used as a method of reducing post-harvest losses in many agricultural products for a long time. Drying of foods reduces the moisture content to preserve the foods and prolong their storage life. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of different drying methods on the chemical properties, water activity (aw), and total microbial count of ‘Daddawa’ powder produced from Parkia biglobosa seeds. The study provided valuable insights into the drying methods that will help in optimising the process of drying fermented ‘daddawa’ vis-à-vis nutritional and other quality properties of the product. The seeds were processed using a slight modification of the traditional method. Fermented seeds (270C for 96h) were divided into four portions, three parts were dried using a cabinet (800C for 24h), oven (800C for 24h) and sun (300C – ambient for 72h), giving samples CB1, OC2 and SD3 respectively. Dried samples were comminuted using an attrition mill and packaged. The fermented (270C for 96h) undried seeds (UA0 - control) were milled into paste and refrigerated (40C) before analysis. Portions of samples CB1, OC2 and SD3 were stored at ambient temperature (24-270C for 3 months). The stored samples were drawn and analysed monthly for water activity (aw) and total microbial count – bacteria and fungi. The samples were subjected to chemical analysis using standard procedures. The data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance using the GenStat Statistical Software (17.1). Results of proximate composition revealed that the moisture content of CB1 (13.04b±0.00), OC2 (12.64bc±0.47) and SD3 (12.03c±0.00) were within the range of flour (10-14%). Protein content showed that SD3 (25.17a±0.09) was significantly (P<0.05) different to the rest samples. The result of the vitamin content of ‘daddawa’ powder shows that SD3 (8.88a±0.00) was highest in vitamin B1, followed by UA0 (8.67a±0.15), with no significant (P<0.05) difference. The results show an array of mineral content, including calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese and sodium. The pH value was highest in OC2 (6.9) and SD3 (6.9) and least in CB1 (6.2). The study revealed that cabinet dried samples could be more stable owing to their lowered pH value and colour, thus proving their advantage over the others. Also, both water activity and microbial counts of bacteria and fungi increased with storage time. Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in L* colour values (degree of lightness from black to white), ranging from 18.17 (OC2) to 28.50 (SD3), indicating varying lightness levels among samples. Overall, ‘daddawa’ powder dried by various methods exhibited better quality in proximate composition than the control. It is recommended that further studies should be carried out to determine the invitro and invivo digestibility of the protein for both the dried and undried (control) samples. Also, to ameliorate losses of nutrients during drying, a lower temperature should be adopted. The findings have implications for optimising drying techniques to preserve nutritional and microbial qualities, making the study relevant for food scientists and technologists working on sustainable food preservation.
Author(s) Details
Gabriel Anayo Jacob
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Science and
Technology, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria.
Usman Sa’id Haruna
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Science and
Technology, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria.
Esther Eduzor
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Science and
Technology, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria.
Dorothy Oluwatosin
Adesanya
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Science and Technology,
Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/fsarh/v4/6346
No comments:
Post a Comment