Stability of Porridge Produced from Stored Acha-Unripe Plantain Flour Blends Supplemented with Malted Soybean Flour

This study aimed to evaluate the quality attributes of flour blends and porridge produced from acha, unripe plantain, and malted soybean. The unripen plantain flour was substituted (0.5.10.15.20.25.30%) into the acha flour at the preliminary stage to determine the most preferred flour blends which formed the base of the research work. The most preferred flour blend of acha and unripen plantain (90:10) was supplemented with malted soybean flour (0,5,10,15,20,25,30%) to produce acha-unrippen-malted flour blends to produce light porridge. The porridge produce from 100% acha and the most preferred acha-unrippen plantain-malted flour blend porridge (60:25:15) were packaged and stored under atmospheric tempature for 6 weeks. The pH, acidity, peroxide values, free fatty acidity and sensory quality of the stored porridge were determinend weekly. The pH of acha flour and acha-unripe plantain and malted soybean flour blend increased from 7.15 to 7.55 and 6.60 to 7.65, respectively, TTA decreased from 0.89 to 0.80% and 1.13 to 0.85%, respectively, FFA increase from 0.43 to 0.64% and 0.54 to 1.17%, respectively, and PV increased from 2.40 to 4.90 and 3.30 to 8.30 meq/kg, respectively. The sensory properties of composite flour blend (60:25:15), such as appearance, aroma, taste and overall acceptability decreased from 7.55 to 5.45, 7.50 to 5.45, 7.25 to 5.15 and 7.40 to 6.30, respectively, with an increase in storage duration (0 – 6 weeks). The relative decrease in the assessed sensory quality and increase in the peroxide values with increase in storage duration showed the possibility in decrease in the quality of the stored porridge. However, the average means score for the general acceptability proved the acceptability of the same up to six weeks. It is recommended that this blend be adopted as a nutrient-dense food, with optimized packaging to improve shelf stability.