Publication: Quality of Porridge from Sub-Saharan Africa Evaluated Using Instrumental Techniques and Descriptive Sensory Lexicon. Part 2: Thin Porridge
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2018-05-31
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Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI)
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African Journal of Food Science
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Abstract
Thin porridge is a popular nourishment drink for adults and complementary food for children in
sub-Saharan Africa. It is made from straight (unblended) or composite flours of maize, sorghum,
finger millet and cassava in neutral or chemically-acidified media, or after spontaneous
fermentation of the flours. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of type of
composite flour and pH on the sensory quality of thin porridges. Instrumental methods and
modified quantitative descriptive analysis were used to identify the main sensory attributes of
thin porridges made from different composite flours in neutral or acidic media or after
spontaneous fermentation. The results of the study indicated that irrespective of the pH, cerealbased composite flours had higher onset pasting temperatures; and lower peak, breakdown, final
and setback viscosities than cassava-cereal flours. Thin porridges formulated from cereal-based
composite flours tended to have lower firmness, consistencies, cohesiveness and indices of
viscosity than those made from cassava-cereal flours. The colour of thin porridges depends on
the botanical origin of the composite flours, their ratios and whether the pH was adjusted using
citric acid or by spontaneous fermentation. Principal component analysis identified three major
principal components (PCs) that accounted for 83.7% of the total variance in the sensory
attribute data. The principal component scores indicated that the location of the thin porridges on
each of the three scales corresponded with cassava aroma (PC1), finger millet/maize aroma
(PC2), and colour and fermented aroma (PC3). This study has shown that thin porridges with
different sensory profiles can be produced in sub-Saharan Africa for different population groups.
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Colour, texture, thin porridge, quantitative descriptive analysis.