Investigation of functional and sensory properties of plantain flour in citric acid

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of process variables on the proximate, functional, and sensory properties of plantain flour.
 Research Methodology: The plantain fruit was sorted and hand-peeled using kitchen knives. It was then cut into various slices of 2 – 6 mm and steeped in citric acid solutions with concentrations ranging between 1 – 5 %. The steeping time varied between 30 – 120 min. The pretreated plantain slices were processed into flours. Process parameters were analyzed using the response surface methodology of Design Expert software.
 Results: The proximate parameters of the flour samples showed no significant difference (p > 0.05), but there were significant effects (p< 0.05) on the functional and sensory properties of the flour samples. The functional properties were found to differ significantly.
 Limitation: This study did not consider the application of other optimization methods such as genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization in estimating the optimum points. Future studies could focus on these areas.
 Contribution: The validation of the optimization processes showed success in the application of citric acid in the production of novel plantain flour.