Production and Characterization of Snacks Utilizing Composite Flour from Unripe Plantain (), Breadfruit (), and Cinnamon ().

This study aimed to assess the characteristics of flour and cookies produced from composite plantain, breadfruit, and cinnamon blends. Six samples were created by combining the flours (Plantain, Breadfruit, and Cinnamon Composite (PBC)) in the following proportions: 100:0:0, 0:100:0, 65:30:5, 70:25:5, 75:20:5, and 80:15:5. The flours were subjected to proximate, functional, and color analyses using standard methods.

Establishing the linkage between eba's instrumental and sensory descriptive profiles and their correlation with consumer preferences: implications for cassava breeding.

Background: Gari and eba, forms of cassava semolina, are mainly consumed in Nigeria and other West African countries. This study aimed to define the critical quality traits of gari and eba, to measure their heritability, to define medium and high throughput instrumental methods for use by breeders, and to link the traits with consumer preferences. The definition of a food product's profiles, including its biophysical, sensory, and textural qualities, and the identification of the characteristics that determine its acceptability, are important if new genotypes are to be adopted successfully.

Unravelling the Effect of Provitamin A Enrichment on Agronomic Performance of Tropical Maize Hybrids.

Maize is consumed in different traditional diets as a source of macro- and micro-nutrients across Africa. Significant investment has thus been made to develop maize with high provitamin A content to complement other interventions for alleviating vitamin A deficiencies. The current breeding focus on increasing β-carotene levels to develop biofortified maize may affect the synthesis of other beneficial carotenoids.

Retention of Pro-Vitamin A Content in Products from New Biofortified Cassava Varieties.

Plant breeding efforts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have produced biofortified cassava with high carotenoid content to address vitamin A deficiencies (VAD). Since carotenoids in foods are easily depleted during processing, the retention of β-carotene in some newly released cassava varieties is under query. From four of these new varieties, two commonly consumed products (gari and its dough) were processed according to standard methods.