Effect of cowpea flour processing on the chemical properties and acceptability of a novel cowpea blended maize porridge

Abstract

Childhood growth stunting is a pervasive problem in Malawi and is in large part due to low quality complementary foods and chronic gut inflammation. Introducing legumes such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) into the complementary diet has the potential to improve childhood growth by improving diet quality through improvements in macro- and micronutrients and also by reducing gut inflammation. However, cowpea is relatively underutilized in complementary feeding in Malawi due to its strong taste, long processing time, and high energy requirements for processing. Effective utilization of cowpea in complementary feeding requires processing which may affect chemical composition as well as sensory quality. The present study evaluated the effect of processing on the retention of zinc, crude fibre, and flavonoid in roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea flours, and assessed the acceptability of maize porridge (70%) enriched with one of the three cowpea flours (30%). Roasting, dehulling, and boiling did not have any effect on zinc content. Crude fibre content increased after processing by all methods. Processing had no effect on measurable flavonoids. Roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea blended maize porridges were acceptable to children with mean quantities of leftover food of less than 3g from the given 100g. Caregivers also rated the blended flours to be highly acceptable to them as well, with maize porridge blended with dehulled cowpea flour the most acceptable to both children and caregivers. These results demonstrate that cowpea flour, processed by any of these three different methods, could serve as a useful addition to maize porridge for complementary feeding of children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chemical and molecular examinations of some cowpea genotypes using simple sequence repeat and intersimple sequence repeat DNA markers in relation to their cooking quality

“…Cowpea genotypes exhibited low protein content with high nonprotein substances content, particularly in the case of Buff Chinese and Kafr‐ElSheikh genotypes. The results are in agreement with former studies that stated cowpea seeds are rich in carbohydrate content, which makes them an important source of energy for consumers (Ajeigbe et al., 2008 ; Ngoma et al., 2018 ). On the other hand, low carbohydrate genotypes were desirable in making meals for diabetic patients.…”

“…Shorter cooking time is more acceptable and desirable as it would allow reducing the process duration and the energy use, and also saving the associated costs (Hamid et al, 2015;Ngoma et al, 2018).…”

“…Longer cooking time is associated with a decrease in the nutritional value of the cooked seeds. Shorter cooking time is more acceptable and desirable as it would allow reducing the process duration and the energy use, and also saving the associated costs (Hamid et al., 2015 ; Ngoma et al., 2018 ).…”

Consumption of Animal-Source Protein is Associated with Improved Height-for-Age z Scores in Rural Malawian Children Aged 12–36 Months

“…Cowpea (Sudan 1 variety) and common bean (white variety) were sourced from local markets, roasted and milled into flour as previously described [ 28 , 29 ]. CSB was commercially produced by a local company (Rab Processors Limited, Blantyre, Malawi), and consisted of 70% corn and 30% soybean, with added sugar and fortified with vitamins A, B1, B2, B3 and B12, folate, calcium, zinc and iron.…”

A complementary food supplement from local food ingredients to enhance iron intake among children aged 6–59 months in Benin

“…During the consumption of the fortified porridges, the facial expressions of the children were recorded by the investigators using facial hedonic scales of five ( 05) levels (0: very bad, 1: bad, 2: maybe good or bad, 3: good, and 4: very good) as described by Guinard (2001). These nonverbal cues have previously been recommended (Guinard, 2001) and used in similar studies (Mithamo et al, 2020;Ngoma et al, 2018). The use of nonverbal cues is the practice of choice in the baby food industry (Kevin, 1995).…”