COMPARATIVE NUTRITIONAL AND SENSORY ASSESSMENT OF FERMENTED LOCUST BEAN AND SOYBEAN POWDERED CONDIMENTS

Most rural households in Nigeria are more familiar with the use of the traditional locust bean condiment in meal preparation than that of the soybean. This study was carried out to improve the shelf life of the condiments, increase the consumption of soybean for enhanced nutrition among the resource poor rural households and determine consumers’ acceptability of the powdered locust bean and soybean condiments. Three samples were developed namely: powdered fermented locust bean, powdered fermented soybean and their composite (50:50 locust and soybean) condiments. Both the proximate composition and sensory assessment of the condiments were determined. The proximate attributes investigated include protein, carbohydrate, fibre, lipid, ash and moisture contents of the samples while the sensory evaluation parameters include condiments’ aroma, appearance, colour, taste and texture as well as the overall acceptability. Results showed that powdered fermented soybean condiment has the highest protein (51.63%), lipid (35.40%) and ash (11.64%) contents. The composite also has higher protein (51.19%) than locust bean (47. 25%). On the other hand, powdered locust bean condiment has the highest carbohydrate (4.44%) contents while the composite condiment has the highest fibre content (10.27%). No significant difference was observed in the overall acceptability of the three samples implying that they are equally acceptable among the consumers. It can be concluded that the production process of powdered soybean and the composite condiment should be taught to women in rural areas to enhance protein intake among the low-income rural households who may not be able to afford other expensive sources of protein