Whipping and Lowering of Moisture Content To Reduce Cowpea Paste Souring Rate

Abstract

Souring of cowpea paste (CP) affects the sensory appeal of CP-based food products. This article reports the effect of whipping time(1-4 min) and moisture content (73-77%) on the quality of CP held at ambient temperature for 24 h. Paste overrun was more influenced by moisture content than whipping time. The exponential microbial growth phase was dominated by lactic acid bacteria after ≥ 6 h of holding. The souring process also increased exponentially with time. The rate constant (k) values ranged from 16.0-21.0 mol/L/h. Whipping delayed the attainment of exponential growth stage of fermenting organisms and reduced the acidification rate in CP compared to the control sample. All the measured parameters were highly predicted by a response surface regression model (0.979 < r 2 < 1.000) except k. The optimum conditions for minimizing souring rate during 24 h holding was 74.56% moisture content and whipping time of 3.92 min.