African palmyra palm (Borassus aethiopum Mart.) fruits are underutilized in Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to produce flour from the African palmyra palm (APP) fruit pulp and evaluate the effect of different drying methods on the quality characteristics of the flour. The fresh pulp was oven, solar, and freeze-dried. Proximate, physicochemical and functional properties of the flours were determined. The flours had high amount of crude fibre (14.04-19.52%), carbohydrates (64.56-73.60%), energy (281.92 -73.60 kCal/ 100g), relatively high water absorption capacity (307.18-517.66%), swelling power (433.0-556.92%), oil absorption capacity (83.48-164.38%) and good flowability (Hausner Ratios below 1.4 and Carr's Indices below 23%). The present findings show that APP flour could be used as a potential ingredient in various food products such as pasta, puddings, cakes, biscuits, bread, crackers and doughnuts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.