NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION AND SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF EKOKI PRODUCED FROM MAIZE AND ENHANCED WITH SOY AND TIGERNUT MILKS

This study was carried out to determine the effects of soymilk, tigernut milk, soy/tigernut milk and water on nutritional quality of ekoki. White and yellow maize were separately grounded into coarse form; while soybeans and tigernut tubers were processed into milks. Portions of the ground maize and the milks were blended with addition of crayfish, palm oil, and spices into ekoki mash as follows: white ekoki with soymilk (WES), white ekoki with tigernut milk (WET), white ekokiwith soy/tigernut milk (WEST), yellow ekoki with soy/tigernut milk (YEST) and white ekoki with water (WEW) as control. The ekoki samples were cooked into paste and subjected to physicochemical and mineral analyses as well as sensory evaluation. The ekoki treatments which had protein content 14.31±0.16 to 16.74±0.20%, fat 9.90±0.29% to 12.29±0.21%, ash 3.51±0.13 to 3.85±0.04% and β carotene 122.33±0.58 to 149.20±0.26% were all higher than the control. There was significant (P = 0.05) difference in carotene content among the treatments with highest value in YEST. There was no significant (P > .05) difference in fibre and pH values between ekoki treatments and the control. Minerals except zinc, in all the ekoki treatments were higher than values for the control. In organoleptic evaluation, WEW had highest rating on flavour but least preferred on general acceptability. The use of soymilk, tigernut milk or soy/tigernut milk as blending liquid for ekoki production is recommended as this would enhance nutritional quality of ekoki and therefore promote health of the consumers.