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Aim: Jackfruit is an underutilized tropical and subtropical fruit that is consistently lost to wastages and postharvest losses, neither has it gained substantial research attention. Therefore, the study is aimed at the production and evaluation of breakfast cereals formulated from composite blends of maize flour and jackfruit seed flour. Study Design: This study was made to fit into a one way Analysis of Variance. Place and Duration of Study: The research was carried out at the Department of Food Science and Technology laboratory, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria, between February 2018 and October 2018. Methodology: Flaked breakfast cereals were produced from blends of different ratios of Maize flour to Jackfruit seed flour. The formulated breakfast cereal products were evaluated for proximate composition, functional properties, anti-nutritional properties, mineral content and sensory properties. Results: The mineral content of the formulated breakfast cereals showed significant difference (P<0.05) in Ca(156.23-184.14mg/100g), Mg (179.28-207.81mg/100g), K(70.62-78.53mg/100g), Fe(4.01-5.46mg/100g), Na(9.44-10.66mg/100g), Zn(1.72-2.29mg/100g) and P(10.38-13.62mg/100g). The moisture content (3.83 - 4.14%) of the formulated products was acceptable for shelf life extension of the flaked breakfast cereal products. Protein, ash, crude fiber and fat content of the formulated breakfast cereal products increased with increased addition of jackfruit seed flour while the carbohydrate and energy value of the formulated products decreased with increased addition of jackfruit seed flour. Bulk density and water absorption capacity of the formulated products increased with increased addition of jackfruit seed flour while oil absorption capacity, foam capacity, viscosity and gelation capacity decreased with increased addition of jackfruit seed flour. Processing method significantly reduced the relatively high level of anti-nutrients associated with Jackfruit seed. Panelist preference increased with a corresponding decrease in jackfruit seed flour addition. Conclusion: Utilization of jackfruit in food product development may solve the problem of wastage and postharvest losses associated with this fruit.

The colour of rice syrup produced from flours of malted and unmalted rice of different varieties treated with a combination of starch hydrolyzing enzymes were analysed using CIE-LAB Spectrophotometric colorimeter after being filtered and/or centrifuged. The resulting syrups were processed as filtered unmalted hydrolyzed rice (FUHR), filtered malted hydrolyzed rice (FMHR), centrifuged unmalted hydrolyzed rice (CUHR) and centrifuged malted hydrolyzed rice (CMHR). Results showed that L* ranged from 60.16 to 68.57, a* ranged from 10.49 to 11.13 and b* ranged from 55.34 to 64.56. The magnitude of the colour values was an indication of the intensity of the rice syrup colour. Hue angle (oH*) ranged from 79.08o to 80.36o indicating less yellow in the CIE-LAB colour space and brown colour spectrum in the visible region of opponent colour chart. Total colour difference (ΔE) of syrups ranged from 0.50 to 1.72 for ΔEunmalted while ΔEmalted ranged from 0.49 to 1.76. However, the ΔEfiltered ranged from 5.89 to 11.19 while ΔEcentrifuged ranged from 5.54 to 9.47 indicating that filtration and centrifugation contributed to non-significant difference (p&gt;0.05) in colour attributes (ΔE) of the rice syrup, whereas very distinct colour difference (ΔE) was observed between rice syrups from malted and unmalted samples.

The continued increase in Nigeria's rice production makes product diversification very fitting, even to underutilized indigenous/local varieties. Further, rice converted to malt can bring about useful products like syrup with enhanced characteristics. In this context, a comparative study involving some functional properties of syrup from malted and unmalted rice of different varieties was carried out. Syrup from either filtered or centrifuged starch hydrolysates of enzyme hydrolyzed rice (malted/unmalted) flours gave rise to filtered unmalted (FUHR), filtered malted (FMHR), centrifuged unmalted (CUHR), and centrifuged malted hydrolyzed rice (CMHR) groups. From these, functional properties, that is, pH, total soluble proteins (TSP), total dissolved solids (TDS), total solids (TS), dextrose equivalent (DE), titratable acidity (TA), apparent brix (°B), specific gravity (SG), syrup yield (SY), and some minerals [calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), and zinc (Zn)] were determined. Results showed syrup from malted with significantly higher (P < 0.05) SY, Brix, pH, SG, TS, TDS, and TSP, but significantly lower (P < 0.05) TA, DE, and mineral contents (Ca, Zn, Fe, and Mg) over the unmalted group. Some significant interactions (P < 0.05) were found, between rice variety, treatment and separation method (TS, TDS, DE, Brix, SY, and Ca), rice variety and treatment (TSP, Zn, Mg, and Fe), as well as rice variety and separation method (TSP, pH). In addition, some positive and negative significant (P < 0.05) correlations between the studied functional properties were found. Overall, malting and processing methods can influence the functional properties of rice syrup-an acceptable specialty ingredient for brewing/beverage production.

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