Nutritive value of baobab milk (gubdi) and mixtures of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) and hungry rice, acha (Digitaria exilis) flours

Abstract

The baobab milk and fermented baobab/acha flour mixtures were analyzed chemically for their proximate, ascorbate, mineral and antinutrient composition. The dry pulp scraped from baobab fruits was kneaded, made into solution, extracted through cheese-cloth and stored frozen until analyzed. The acha and baobab grains were cleaned, fermented for 24 to 120 hours, dried and hammermilled into fine flours. The unfermented flours served as controls. The standard assay methods of AOAC were selected for use for the analysis of the nutrients and the antinutrients. The mixtures were composed of 70% acha and 30% baobab flours (70:30 protein basis). The baobab milk contained more protein (1.5%) and minerals (Fe, 17.8 mg; Ca 134.2 mg) than those of human milk (protein, 1.3%, Fe, 0.2 mg, Ca 30 mg) and cow milk (Fe, 0.1 mg; Ca 1.20 mg) and most leading national commercial infant formulas e.g. cerelac (Fe, 10.0 mg). The composite flours contained more nutrients than the baobab or the acha flour alone. The BF96 had greater advantage over other BF flours as a supplement to acha. The mixtures are within the reach of lower income group and can be incorporated into their diets.

Evaluation of Proximate, Fibre Qualities and Consumer Acceptability of Bambaranut – Tigernut – Coconut Milk Beverage Blends

“…Legume crops especially soybeans among others have received very high research attention and more research is still being designed to improve the quality of soy milk (5) yet supply and demand has not been met due to increasing world population apart from its high cost like cow milk. However, little research attention has been given to bambaranut (6) , baobab (7) , peanut (8) , melon seed (4) and tigernut milk (9) as sources of single or blended ready-toserve bottled beverage, like "Horchata de chufas" as done in South Europe, especially Spain.…”

Kinetic modeling of ascorbic acid loss in baobab drink at pasteurization and storage temperatures.

“…Kinetic studies help engineers and scientists to optimize processing systems and design processes, to improve or optimize existing processes and develop control systems for processing operations by finding rates of reaction that occur during heat processing operations [26]. Knowledge of the rates of various reactions helps to predict how quick the reaction mixture is able to move to its equilibrium condition and its mechanism [27].The kinetic modeling has been widely used to evaluate thermal stability of ascorbic acid in different food systems such as orange serum [9]; orange juice [17,28]; orange-carrot juice [29]; lemon juice [20,30]; citrus juice concentrates [31,32]; pumpkin [33]; potato [34] and guava juice [35]. The dearth of information on degradation of ascorbic acid in baobab drink and associated products indicates the need for studies along that line.…”

“…Leaves, bark and fruits of this tree are traditionally employed in several African regions as foodstuffs and for medicinal purposes, and for that reason baobab is also named "the small pharmacy" or "chemist tree" [3,4]. The native African populations commonly use the baobab fruit as famine food to prepare decoctions, sauces, ice-creams, jams and natural refreshing drink, due to its nutritional properties [5,6,7,8,9,10]. The pulp is therapeutically employed as febrifuge, analgesic, anti-diarrhea / antidysentery and for treatment of smallpox and measles [4].…”

Effect of cooking time on the physical, chemical and thermal properties of acha seeds

“…Acha is easily digested, and it is traditionally recommended for children, old people that cannot digest other cereals, sick people, diabetic patients and patients with stomach diseases (Cruz, 2004). The diets from acha have relatively low free sugar and low glycemic content, which makes it adequate as a suggested diet for diabetic patients (Obizoba & Anyika, 1994). Acha has high water absorption capacity that gives it ability to be utilized in baked foods.…”

“…It also contains pentosans (Lasekan, 1994) which gives it the ability to form a gel in the presence of oxidizing agents at room temperature. The high levels of sulphur containing and hydrophobic amino acids in acha grains make it a use-ful crop for bakery products (Obizoba & Anyika, 1994). Engineering properties of crops are essential parameters in utilisation, development of processing methods and design of processing equipment (Akinoso & Raji, 2011).…”