The potential of okro seed flour for weaning foods in West Africa

The use of maize, soybean and okro seed flours in weaning food formulation was investigated. Nine blends were made from the three flours: 90% maize‐10% soybean; 80% maize‐20% soybean; 70% maize‐30% soybean; 90% maize‐10% okro; 80% maize‐20% okro; 70% maize‐30% okro; 90% maize‐5% soybean‐5% okro; 80% maize‐10% soybean‐10% okro and 70% maize‐15% soybean‐15% okro. The inclusion of okro in the blend increased protein and fat relative to the soybean‐maize blends. The total viable count ranged from no growth to 100 per gram. There was no difference in preference between the three maize‐soybean blends. However, there was significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) within maize‐okro and maize‐soybean‐okro blends. Maize‐okro (70:30) and maize‐soybean‐okro (90:5:5) were the significantly preferred ratios. There was no significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between these two preferred blends in terms of flavour, taste and texture. However, there were significant differences in appearance, colour and general acceptability. The maize‐okro (70:30) blend, which had a higher protein content, (21.1 ± 0.1%) was not of an acceptable colour, appearance and overall acceptability was low. The maize‐soybean‐okro (90:5:5) blend with protein content 9.8 ± 3.3% was judged to be acceptable for all the sensory attributes tested

Agronomy · Animal science · Biology · Flavour · Significant difference · Soybean oil · Taste · Weaning · Zea mays · African Botany and Ecology Studies · Mathematics · Phytase and its Applications · Seed and Plant Biochemistry · Food Science