Pretreated sorghum-cassava flour as a substitute for traditional Nigerian yam flour (elubo)

Abstract

Sorghum grains were subjected to different pretreatments (germination, pregelatinization or fermentation) and then milled into flour. Pretreated or untreated sorghum flour (30 parts) was mixed with cassava flour (70 parts). The mixes were evaluated for water holding capacity (WHC), syneresis, gel strength and proximate composition. Comparison of the results were made with those obtained from either yam or cassava flour. Compared with the untreated sorghum, WHC increased by approximately 12% when sorghum was pregelatinized, but decreased by approximately 12% when malted while fermentation had no significant (p > 0.05) influence. All composite mixtures, except the malted sorghum-cassava mix produced stronger gels than cassava flour. The values for protein, fat and ash for all the sorghum-cassava mixtures were higher than for either cassava or yam flour. Sensory tests showed that the reconstituted stiff porridge prepared from pretreated or untreated sorghum-cassava mixtures, except that prepared from malted sorghum-cassava mix, had acceptable sensory characteristics.