Evaluation of Functional and Pasting Properties of Blends of High Quality Cassava, Defatted Tigernut and Chicken Feet Composite Flour

Abstract

Annually, the chicken processing industries generate significant quantities of chicken feet which are often discarded because they are undervalued and underutilized. However, this study was done to add value to chicken feet by evaluating the functional and pasting properties of high quality cassava-defatted tigernut-chicken feet composite blend. Tigernut seeds and chicken feet were processed into flour respectively. Simplex centroid mixture design was used to generate fourteen (14) blends based on the HQCF (70-90%), CFF (5-45%) and DTNF (5-45%). Standard laboratory procedures were used to determine the functional properties (swelling power (SP), water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), bulk density (BD), least gelation concentration (LGC) and pasting properties of the blends. Results showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the functional properties of composite flour in terms of swelling power, water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), bulk density (BD) and least gelation concentration (LGC) ranging from 3.83-5.72 (g/g), 90.43-110.40 (%), 87.86-107.23 (%), 0.51-0.75 (g/ml), and 2.00-10.00 (%w/v) respectively. The pasting profile (peak viscosity, trough, breakdown viscosity, final viscosity, setback viscosity, peak time and peak temperature) of the high quality cassava-defatted tigernut-chicken feet flour blends had significant differences (P<0.05) with values ranging from 76.50-434(RVU), 52.17 – 157.09 (RVU), 20.33 -262.96 (RVU), 76.71-215.13 (RVU), 24.55-59.25 (RVU), 4.17-4.90 (Min) and 94.28-95.88(0C). As CFF and DTNF inclusion increased, the peak, trough, breakdown, final and setback viscosities decreased. This study revealed that chicken feet flour could be a good food ingredient in food formulations such as short crust pastries, sauces, weaning foods and gravies to reduce their paste thickness.