No abstract

Ndaleyi, a fermented, sun dried agglomerated powder produced from pearl millet or sorghum is one of the most popular foods consumed in Nigeria, mostly by the Kanuri people of Borno State. Its traditional production is described. The mean yields of ndaleyi (mainly starch), chir ('millet gluten') and 'bran' (overtail or bina) were 30.6, 22.5 and 21.5%, respectively. A mean yield loss of 20% was observed. Chemical analysis revealed that chir and 'bran' have higher protein, fat and ash contents than ndaleyi. The titratable acidities (as percent lactic acid) of ndaleyi and chir were 0.9 and 0.3, while their pH values were 3.3 and 3.5, respectively.

Breakfast meals are described as any food obtained with or without supplementation through swelling, roasting, grinding, rolling, or flaking of any cereal. This study is aimed to produce and evaluate the functional, pasting, proximate composition and sensory properties of a breakfast meal made from blends of sorghum, bambara and date flours. Gruels were made using composite flour (450 μm) in ratio of 80:15:5, 70:20:10, 60:25:5 and 100:0:0 for sorghum, bambara and date palm respectively. Samples were assessed for functional, pasting, proximate and sensory properties using standard procedures. Data were analyzed using ANOVA at p = 0.05. The functional properties of the flour blends were significantly (p = 0.05) affected by the increasing level of supplementation of bambara and date palm flour. There was a decrease in gelatinization temperature and viscosity as the level of supplementation of bambara nut and date palm flours increased. The gruel from 100% sorghum flour (control) had the highest pasting properties. Proximate composition of the gruels was as follows: moisture, 10.79-9.22%; crude protein, 4.50-10.37%; crude fat, 1.56-2.12%; ash, 2.86-1.76%; crude fibre, 0.10-0.88% and carbohydrate, 80.33-75.15%. Samples made from 60:25:15 flour blends showed significantly (p = 0.05) highest sensory qualities while gruel from 100% sorghum was lowest. The use of bambara nut and date palm fruits at various substitution levels in the formulation of sorghum breakfast gruel significantly (p = 0.05) enhanced their quality characteristics.