Processing of sterilized fermented maize/milk mixed gruel and evaluation on the physical, sensory and shelf life qualities for rural markets without refrigeration

Abstract

Abstract by author:

Three different gruel products were made following a standard way of gruel production but with different pectin treatments (no pectin, 0. 2 percent pectin and 0. 4 percent pectin), heat sterilized by boiling and packed. These were then left on the shelf without refrigeration for a period of 5 weeks after which microbial consistency and sensory evaluation tests were done on the products and compared to the commercially produced Oshitaka purchased from a shop. A sensory panel consisting of 10 enumerators did sensory evaluation, and then statistical analysis using analysis of variance was done to compare the gruel produced in this project Oshitaka

The microbial tests showed that there was no contamination of the products. However, all three gruel products had syneresis taking place despite the pectin added to some of the products. In addition, statistical analysis showed that the three samples were significantly different from the Oshitaka in terms of flavour, sweetness and product viscosity, but the research also shows that this product can be done