Abstract

Nigeria depends majorly on wheat grain importation to meet the need of the wheat- based products industry. In order to conserve foreign exchange earnings of the government there has been an increasing effort to encourage domestic wheat production. Presently, about 10% of the total wheat requirements are produced locally while the remaining is imported. However, in recent times efforts have been focused on the use of locally available unfertilized cereals, legumes and tubers for the production of wheat-based products such as biscuits and bread. This study is aimed at production and evaluation of biscuit from locally available food materials.

Composite flour was produced using varying proportion of wheat flour to African walnut flour in the proportion of 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 50:50 and then analyzed for chemical properties, functional properties and microbial properties. Biscuit was produced from the composite flours and analyzed for sensory attribute. All data generated in the study were analysed statistically. The chemical composition result indicated increasing level of moisture, protein, fat and crude fibre while there was decrease in carbohydrate as the proportion of walnut increases. Functional analysis result indicated an increasing level of bulk density, swelling index and water absorption. The microbial analysis showed absence of E. coli in the samples. Sensory evaluation of the biscuit showed that the samples produced from 90:10 wheat-walnut flour was comparable to the sample produced from 100% wheat flour in terms of the overall acceptability.

Keywords: Wheat; African walnut; Composite flour; Biscuit; Sensory properties