ABSTRACT

 The study evaluated the physicochemical and functional properties of gluten free composite flour produced from cassava, maize and soybean blends. Individual flour samples of cassava, maize and soybean were produced following standard procedures. Cassava, maize and soybean flours were composited to give the following ratios 60:25:15 (SC2), 50:35:15 (SC3), 40:45:15 (SC4) and 30:55:15 (SC5) respectively, 100% wheat was used as the control. The proximate composition showed increase in ash, fat, fibre and protein content for composite flour which ranged from 1.27%, 1.37%, 3.02%, 12.62% respectively, compared to control (wheat flour) from 1.08. 0.65, 0.87 and 10.59% respectively. The result ofthe mineral content showed that calcium, magnesium and zinc content of the composite flour increased from 70.34 to 74.09 mg/lOOg, 88.07 to 94.11 mg/lOOg, 6.22 to 6.67 mg/lOOg respectively as the replacement of cassava with maize and soybean flour increased while the potassium content decreased as the proportion of maize decreased but the composite flour minerals are higher than the control (wheat flour). All the vitamin (B-carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folic and ascorbic acid increased as the proportion of maize and soybean increased from 7.42 to 8.1 Ipg/g, 0.69 to 0.82 mg/lOOg, 0.03 to 10.16 mg/lOOg, 0.93 to 1.35 mg/lOOg, 0.14 to 0.25 mg/lOOg, 10.82 to 18.96 mg/lOOg respectively. Folic acid was higher (0.66 mg/lOOg) in control (wheat flour) compared to the composite flour. The anti- nutrient showed that phytate, saponin, tannin, oxalate increased from 1.57 to 2.62%, 0.04 to 0.18 mg/100 g, 0.42 to 0.75%, and 0.05 to 0.16 mg/lOOg respectively as the proportion of maize and soybean increased while hydrogen cyanide increased as the replacement of cassava with maize and soybean increased. The result ofthe functional properties ofthe composite flour showed that the bulk density (7.41 to 11.12 g/ml), foam stability (1.98 to 7.42%) and gelation temperature (71.00 to 84.50°C) increased as the proportion of maize and soybean increased in the blends. The result shows that the composite flour is of good quality, however, the soybean needs to be further processed to reduce anti-nutrient level.