Abstract
In this study, the effect of fortification of tiger nut milk with moringa seed on the microbial, nutritional and sensory quality of the local beverage was investigated. Fortification of tiger nut milk significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced the fungal load of the drink with 8.00 as against 17.00 in the control sample. The organisms isolated from the freshly prepared tiger nut milk blends were Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer and Penicillum species. Further, fortified milk had higher moisture (78.51%), protein (2.97%) and lipid (2.01%) contents compared with the unfortified milk which had 76.83%, 2.11% and 1.45% respectively. Also, the ash, fiber and carbohydrate contents of the unfortified tiger nut milk were higher than that of the fortified tiger nut milk. Similarly, the fortified milk had higher level of all the minerals assessed than unfortified milk. In the sensory evaluation, tiger nut milk fortified with moringa seed had comparable rating to the unfortified milk in appearance, color, consistency and acceptability, but had a lower rating for taste and higher rating for aroma. These results suggest that moringa seed powder may be added to tiger nut milk to improve its nutritional quality.