Gluten free crackers from germinated and fermented cowpea pulses flours: Their thermal, physicochemical and consumer sensory evaluation
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ScienceDirect
Abstract
Cowpea fermentation and germination improve nutrients and reduce antinutrients of resulting flours but flours of fermented or germinated cowpea pulses are not what consumers eat. Therefore, this study investigated the nutritional and consumer sensory evaluation of crackers made using fermented or germinated Bira and Nakare cowpea grain flours. Compared to common wheat crackers, cowpea crackers had a higher protein content that ranged between 21.84 and 25.14 g/100 g. The iron contents of cowpea crackers were 78 % more than those reported in common wheat crackers. The crackers’ enthalpies ranged between 2.70 and 7.83 J/kg. A strong 7–9 ratings on a 9-point hedonic scale were given by 45 % of consumers for the germinated Bira crackers. At least 84 % of consumers rated at least 4–9 all the cowpea crackers. This study demonstrated the development of high protein, shelf-stable, fermented and germinated cowpea crackers, thereby diversifying the forms of consumption of the under-utilised cowpea pulses
Description
This study investigated the effects of using fermented and germinated whole grain cowpea flours to bake shelf-stable, low moisture, low sugar, crackers on the consumers sensory acceptability, nutrients’ contents, physical and thermal properties of these crackers
Keywords
Gelatinisation, Micronutrients, Malnutrition, Stunting, Gluten-free, University of Namibia, Namibia