Pasting Properties of Acha-Green Banana Composite Flour Fortified with Cowpea Flour and Quality Evaluation of Gluten-Free Biscuit Made from the Blends

The needs to limit wheat importation into Nigeria and to develop nutritious products for celiac patients have necessitated the search for alternative flour sources to partially or wholly replace wheat in bakery products preparation. The present study was aimed at evaluating the effects of substituting 70% acha -30 green banana composite flour with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% cowpea flour on the pasting properties of the flour blends and on the physical properties, nutrient composition and sensory characteristics of biscuits made from the flour blends. The unfortified flour served as the control sample. The result showed that all the parameters evaluated varied with the proportion of cowpea flour incorporation. The peak, trough, final and setback viscosities significantly (p<0.05) decreased while the peak time and peak temperature increased with increase in cowpea flour substitution. Biscuit made from unfortified flour exhibited lower thickness but higher diameter and spread ratio than biscuits made from cowpea substituted flours. The protein, fat, crude fibre, calcium, iron and zinc contents in the biscuits progressively increased from 9.57 -17.41%, 10.86 -12.01%, 1.92 -2.14%, 31.79 -43.95mg/100g, 3.01 -4.58mg/100g and 1.95 -3.23mg/100g respectively with increase in cowpea flour substitution. Conversely, the ash, carbohydrate and potassium contents in the biscuits progressively decreased from 2.48 -2.13%, 75.17 -66.14% and 78.84 -56.90mg/100g respectively with increase in cowpea flour substitution. The sensory mean scores by the panellists for the attributes evaluated showed variations among the biscuit samples. Biscuits produced from blend of 80% achagreen banana composite flour and 20% cowpea flour was the most preferred by the panellists in terms of taste, aroma, texture, and overall acceptability. Utilization of composite flour from these locally grown crops will reduce wheat importation, increase their utilization, enhance the nutritional value and provide biscuit variety for celiac patients.