Evaluation of Quality and Sensory Characteristics of Spaghetti made from Plantain and Wheat Flour blends

Abstract

The world is tending towards fortification of cereal, root and tubers food products to increase and enhance its macro and micronutrients content for her teaming population. This study investigated the quality and sensory evaluation of spaghetti produced from plantain and wheat flour blends. The dried plantain chips were milled, sieved to pass through sieve number 60 BS and blends with wheat flour at levels of 100:00%, 85:15%, 80:20%, 75:25%, 70:30%, respectively. The five samples formulated were analyzed for nutritional properties and sensory attributes using a 9-point hedonic scale of preference. All data were subjected to analysis of variance while significant differences were determined at p<0.05, while Duncan multiple range test was used to separate the mean. The study finding shows that nutritionally improved spaghetti products could be produced from mixture of plantain and wheat flour within the range of 15% - 25% wheat flour substitution. The mineral profiles of the study show improvement in quality and quantity compare to the control sample. However, iron, sodium and zinc content of the spaghetti samples were far below recommended daily allowance, hence there is need to supplement such food with fruit- vegetables. The high mean score obtained for the overall acceptability showed that the plantain-based spaghetti samples were accepted by the panellists. Sample with 20% wheat flour substitution level had the highest mean score (6.77) than other wheat flour substituted samples. This might be the perfect blend to make spaghetti from plantainwheat flour blends.