ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to determine the chemical composition, functional and organoleptic properties of soybean and corn flour blends and their baked (biscuit and cake) products. The flour sample SOB (100% soybean), contained a higher percentage of protein, moisture, fat, fibre and ash but lower in its carbohydrate content than sample CON(100% corn) and sample WHT(100% wheat); with mean values of 41.99%, 10.91, 18.63%, 5.6%, 4.93% and 17.84% respectively. It was also observed that the flour blends with high percentage of soybean were significantly higher (p<0.05) in their moisture, fat, fibre, ash, but low in carbohydrate (p<0.05) The vitamin content of sample SOB (100% soybean), LAB (70% soybean, 30% corn) and UTC (60% soybean, 40% corn) were found to be very high for vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamin and niacin but decreased in samples BYC, (40% soybean, 60% corn) LMN (20% corn, 20% soybean, 60% wheat), CON (100% corn) and WHT (100% wheat), except for riboflavin where sample CON(100% corn) had the highest of 0.70mg. For vitamin A, SOB (100% soybean) had 112.11mg, LAB (70% soybean, 30% corn) had 70.29mg and UTC (60% soybean, 40% corn) had 63.38mg. For vitamin C, sample SOB, (100% soybean) LAB, (70% soybean, 30% corn) and UTC (60% soybean, 40% corn) had 45.96mg, 38.98mg and 63.38mg respectively. For thiamine, sample SOB, LAB and UTC had mean values of 1.57mg, 1.32mg and 1.12mg respectively and niacin with mean values of 2.67mg, 2.60mg and 2.66mg. For niacin these samples (SOB, LAB, UTC) had very low values of 0.28mg, 0.22mg, and 0.18mg, respectively. The cakes and biscuits were high in their proximate and vitamin contents in samples LAB and UTC but low in their mineral content. Results of the sensory score test shows that people greatly disliked the products of samples SOB and LAB, because of the higher soybean content and accepted greatly the products of samples LMN, CON and WHT, which contained more of corn and wheat flours. This level of acceptance would increase the consumption of snacks of high nutrient content by consumers.