Quality attributes of abari (maize pudding) produced from maize and bambara groundnut flour blends

This study assessed the chemical and functional properties of maize and bambara flour blends and the sensory qualities of Abari made from the blends (100:00, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40 of bambara nut:maize). The blends were analysed for proximate composition, vitamins, minerals, functional and anti-nutritional properties. Abari samples were subjected to sensory evaluation. The results indicated a range from 13.20 to 11.73%, 1.67 to 3.50%, 10.74 to 22.42%, 1.07 to 4.48%, 2.15 to 5.27%, and 71.17 to 52.59%, for moisture, ash, protein, fibre, fat and carbohydrate contents respectively. The functional properties ranged from 74.00 to 78.33 mg/100 g, 7.88 to 6.73 mg/100 g, 75.00 to 94.67 mg/100 g, and 0.67 to 0.72 mg/100 g for water absorption capacity, swelling capacity, oil absorption capacity, and bulk density respectively. The vitamins ranged from 0.150 to 0.159 mg/100 g, 0.055 to 0.071 mg/100 g, and 0.112 to 0.063 mg/100g for vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin B3 respectively. The mineral composition ranged from 13.34 to 15.88 mg/g, 6.45 to 7.46 mg/100 g, 14.10 to 13.76 mg/100 g, 9.86 to 10.42 mg/100 g and 363.00 to 912.00 mg/100 g for iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus respectively. The Abari samples prepared from the blends compared favourably in terms of acceptability with control from 100% maize.