EFFECT OF GREEN GRAM FLOUR ADDITION ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PASTING PROPERTIES OF COCOYAM FLOUR AS POTENTIAL INGREDIENTS IN FOOD PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.

Background. Indigenous crops are known to help people in the tropics improve their food security. However, due to a lack of knowledge about their compositions, these advantages are not completely realized. Cocoyam and green gram are examples of underutilized crops rich in carbohydrate and protein content, respectively. This research looked at the functional characteristics, nutritional and antinutrient composition, and pasting properties of composite flours made from cocoyam and green gram. Materials and methods. A red variety of cocoyam tubers were processed into dried slices, milled, sieved, and packaged. The experimental design was performed by applying the response surface methodology. Eight (8) runs were formulated for the cocoyam and green gram flour blends. The independent variables were cocoyam flour and green gram flour with design constraints of 85.00-100.00% and 0.00-15.00%, respectively, while the dependent variables are the functional characteristics. Results. The addition of green gram flour significantly (p < 0.05) increases the bulk density, foaming capacity, gelation temperature, and oil absorption capacity of the blends. The proximate composition also showed that the addition of green gram flour enhanced the nutritional value, with run 2 having the overall best proximate composition of 18.29% crude protein, 1.44% crude fat, and 2.85% ash. Flour blends showed low antinutrient contents, while run 3 competes favorably with 100% cocoyam flour for pasting properties. Conclusion. The selected flour blends revealed a potential for value-added products like snacks and complementary foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]