Application of dried African giant burrowincg cricket (an underutilized insect) in pie production

The consumer acceptability of pie prepared from African Giant Burrowing Crickets flour was investigated. Crickets were subjected to different drying methods, while cricket sample with the highest quantity of crude protein was used in the development of cricket pie. The developed cricket pie was subjected to sensory evaluation and results were analysed using analysis of variance test (ANOVA). Results showed that drying method significantly affected the proximate and mineral compositions of the cricket samples, with freeze dried samples generally having the highest values. Pie with 15% cricket flour inclusion had the highest general acceptability (7.05) among others and competed favourably with control pie (7.15) which was not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05). Consumer acceptability index shows that all the developed pies scored above average (over 50%) in all the attributes evaluated. Generally, all sensory attributes influenced panellists’ choice of pie. The crude fat, crude protein and crude fibre content of pie with 15% cricket flour inclusion were higher than that of the control sample. The implication of this study to the food industry is that a protein enriched baked product such as pie can be developed using cricket flour, with all sensory characteristics carefully controlled to obtain an acceptable product.