ABSTRACT

Cowpea seeds vary greatly in size, shape and especially colour which may be white, buff, green, brown, purple, black or mottled (Marina 1991). Varieties of the cowpea available on the open market in Nigeria include Ife brown, large and small Kano, white with brown or black eyes. Those identified by their local names include black, brown, black and white "akidi", "kafanji", "Oloka", "apama", "Oraudi", "Kwana". In Ghana, varieties available include "Adua Ayera" (Sefa- Dedeh et. al, 1979). Cowpea is particularly important in Africa a subsidiary crop to be relied on during the hungry season. It matures earlier than other crops and can be used immediately in place of the staple food, after the harvests. The surplus can be stored for use throughout the year (Marina 1991). Cowpea is a popular legume in Nigeria and other West African Countries. Nigeria accounts for about 70% of the world total production of cowpeas and is a major consumer (Philips and Mcwatters, 1991). When dry and mature, it can be cooked as decorticated and undercorticated seeds. Seeds are eaten as soups, stews and with vegetables, fruits, maize, rice, millet, plantains, cocoyam, cassava and other foods. It can also be converted into paste and flour which can be used for the preparation of various foods like akara and mom-mom (Enwere 1985). Efforts have been made to use cowpea flours and protein isolates in bakery products (Enwere and Nwerri 1992). Two popular Nigerian foods which have been prepared from cowpea paste and flour are akara — fried cowpea paste and mom-mom — steamed cowpea paste (Ngoddy et al, 1986). Cowpeas generally contains protein, fat, crude fibre, ash, carbohydrates in addition to 2 some vitamins and minerals. It is also a good source of lysine, adequate in tryptophan but deficient in methionine and cystine which can be improved by the addition of cereal protein which have low lysine but high methionine (Bressani 1975).