THE EFFECT OF BLENDING RATIO AND VARIETIES ON NUTRITIONAL QUALITY AND SENSORY ACCEPTABILITY OF COOKIES PRODUCED FROM COMPOSITE FLOUR OF FINGER MILLET (ELEUSINE CORACANA ELEUSINE SUB SPECIES CORACANA) AND WHEAT (TRITICUMAESTIVUM)

Abstract

This study was initiated with the objective of investigating the possibilities of mixing finger millet flour with wheat for the production of cookies. The experiments were carried out in a complete randomized design that comprised of three finger millet varieties (white, black and brown seeded), wheat flour with three different blending ratios (10, 20 and 30%) and 1 control cookie sample of 100% wheat with three replications. Data were analyzed using SAS software (version 9.1.3) and chemical analyses were done using standard methods. Blending ratio and finger millet varieties had significant (P<0.05) effect on proximate, mineral, anti-nutritional compositions and sensory properties of the wheat-finger millet cookies. For example , average values of Moisture (6.70%), protein (9.84%), Ash (1.86%), crude fat (1.92%), crude fiber (2.31%), carbohydrate (77.37%), Energy (366.12%), Ca (65.91 mg/100g), Fe (4.66 mg/100g), Zn (1.77 mg/100g) were recorded for cookies produced from blends of white seeded finger millet variety. Similarly ,average values of 7.23 ,9.58, 1.65,1.97,2.47 and 77.10% for moisture ,protein ,ash, crude fat ,crude fiber, carbohydrate ,respectively, and 364.45 kcal,52.50mg, 5.72mg and 1.86mg per 100g of sample of energy ,calcium, iron, and zinc were recorded for cookies from blends of black millet variety. Corresponding values for cookies of brown millet blends were 7.54, 9.99, 1.61 1.79, 2.44 and 76.63% for proximate composition,356.92 kcal/100g for energy and 45.64,5.22 and 2.00 mg/100g for calcium ,iron and zinc contents. Composite flour cookies exhibited statistically higher contents of condensed tannins and phytic acid than the whole wheat cookie. With increase in the proportion of finger millet the sensory acceptability scores of composite cookies recorded in a scale of 7 points were decreased from 6.57 to 4.85 in color, from 5.87 to 4.98 for texture, from 5.70 to 5.21 for taste, from 6.00 to 4.90 in appearance, from 6.30 to 5.00 for flavor and from 6.20 to 5.13 in overall acceptability of cookies. All sensory scores remained within the liking range showing that finger millets of up to 30% could be used to produce cookies of acceptable sensory quality.