Extrusion-based production of fura flour, a popular Sahelian pearl millet thin porridge beverage, and its market potential

Fura is a popular pearl millet-based thin porridge beverage consumed in Sahelian West Africa. The traditional fura process is laborious and time-consuming, and consumers often purchase fura pre-made from neighbourhood women. A modification of an efficient low-cost single-screw extrusion process for thick porridge flour was used to produce a consistent quality, ready-to-use or instant-type extruded fura flour for broader distribution into the market. Physicochemical characteristics, consumer acceptability, and sales potential in Niamey, Niger were assessed. Fully gelatinized millet extrudate rods were produced, dried, and ground to a coarse flour. Extruded millet fura porridge had higher elasticity, lower shear thinning property, better textural attributes (creamy, elastic, gelling), and lighter colour (L* = 51.6 versus 47.2) than the traditional porridge. A Home Use Test (HUT) showed overall consumer acceptability of the extruded fura, ranging between Good and Very Good (3.1 and 3.6) of a 5-point hedonic scale. A 10-week market test in Niamey showed repeat purchases with good frequency of sale. Extruded fura flour sold second best compared to 34 other traditional cereal foods, with total sales of 630 kg (equivalent to ~ 1,000,000 FCFA/2,000 USD), showing it to be well accepted by the target population in Niamey. Process innovations to increase availability of convenient high quality millet foods have good potential in West Africa.