Canned porridges based on African indigenous crops; nutritional content, consistency, and sensory compared to ‘home-made’ maize porridge, and effect of legume protein concentrates

A shift in dietary habits toward increased intake of fat- and sugar-rich foods is leading to an emerging trend of obesity in Africa. To reverse this trend, it is necessary to offer convenient and affordable food products which are nutritious and tasty. The objective of this study was to develop food-to-food fortified, convenient porridges for adults on a pilot scale. The porridges were based on blends of flours from African indigenous crops, i.e. orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), cowpea (CP), Bambara groundnut (BGN), finger millet, amaranth, and maize. Porridge with OFSP and amaranth each on a 22% dry weight (dw) basis and smaller amounts of CP, maize, and skimmed milk powder (SMP) achieved 20-fold more provitamin A than the reference with only maize and the same SMP content and were also significantly higher in iron, zinc, and vitamin C. The properties of concentrated protein fractions from CP and BGN as porridge ingredients was also studied. Substitution of up to 20% of unmodified flours with protein concentrates resulted in up to 42% increase in the protein content. The inclusion of protein fractions did not adversely affect viscosity compared to when unmodified flours were used or compared to the maize reference. Protein fractions did not influence the sensory profile compared to unmodified flours. However, prototypes based on African indigenous crops were characterized by more intense vegetable and leguminous flavors, and less bitterness, compared to the maize reference.