Quality assessment and consumer acceptability of custard enriched with lima bean and ripe plantain flours

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the nutrient composition and sensory properties of custard enriched with lima bean and plantain flours. The lima bean and plantain flours were separately prepared from lima bean seeds and ripe plantain fruits and used at varying replacement levels (5-25% and 5-25%) for cornstarch in the production of custard formulations with the custard produced from 100% cornstarch used as control. The custard samples produced were evaluated for nutrient composition and sensory properties using standard methods. The moisture, crude protein, fat, ash and crude fibre contents of the samples increased significantly (p<0.05) with increase in the addition of lima bean and plantain flours from 9.19-9.91%, 9.18-19.42%, 2.10-3.23%, 3.38-3.67% and 3.38-4.90%, respectively, while the carbohydrate and energy contents decreased from 72.98-58.90% and 347.44-342.27 KJ/100g, respectively. The control sample (custard made with 100% cornstarch) had the highest carbohydrate (72.98%) and energy (347.44 KJ/100g) contents, respectively. The mineral content of the samples showed that the calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and sodium contents of the custard samples ranged from 113.34-126.02 mg/100g, 48.48-69.30 mg/100g, 76.35-94.79 mg/100g, 36.10-67.30 mg/100g, 2.29-3.77 mg/100g, and 31.77-41.68 mg/100g, respectively. The vitamin content of the custard samples also showed similar increases in niacin (4.34-4.63 mg/100g), thiamine (3.03-3.33 mg/100g), riboflavin (6.35-9.27 mg/100g), vitamin A (8.10-10.17mg) and vitamin C. (3.74-4.77 mg/100g), respectively as the levels of addition of lima bean and plantain flours increased in the formulations. The colour, taste, flavour and texture of the control sample were the most acceptable to the panelists compared to the samples enriched with lima bean and plantain flours at different graded levels. The study, therefore, showed that the nutrient contents of the custard formulations could be enhanced by enriching cornstarch with lima bean and plantain flours at varying proportions, thus extending the use of these locally available novel flours in the preparation of nutrient dense custard samples.