Evaluation of vegetable milk from milk blends of soybean (Glycine max.) and African breadfruit seeds (Treculia africana)

Breadfruit milk (BM) is an unpopular nutritive drink compared to soymilk and ia mostly consumed along with the seeds when boiled. Blending with soymilk will give a novel functional drink with enhanced nutritive value to prevent hidden hunger, enhance stability and may popularize the blend. Soymilk and BM from soaked and boiled dehulled African breadfruit were blended in 95:5%, 90:10% and 50:50% ratios, respectively, while 100% soymilk and 100% BM served as controls. Proximate, vitamin, mineral, anti-nutrient and physicochemical analyses were conducted on the milk blends using standard methods. Sensory properties were determined by subjective evaluation with semi-trained panellists. With increasing BM inclusion, proximate composition revealed increase in moisture content (93.60 to 94.05%) and carbohydrate (0.3 to 0.93%) while total solids (TS) (6.40 to 5.95%), ash (0.55 to 0.49%), fat (2.70 to1.85%) and protein (2.93 to 2.70%) decreased. Vitamin A (0.62 to 1.48 µg/100 mL) increased while vitamin B1 (0.12 to 0.08 mg/100 mL) and vitamin C (4.05 to 3.21 mg/100 mL) decreased. Calcium (0.59 to 0.53 mg/100 mL), phosphorus (8.05 to 7.33 mg/100 mL), zinc (0.75 to 0.63 mg/100 mL) and iron (0.59 to 0.54 mg/100 mL) decreased. Flavonoid (0.15 to 0.09 mg/100 mL), saponin (0.13 to 0.9 mg/100 mL), tannin (0.39 to o.29 mg/100 mL), phytate (0.23 to 0.17 mg/100 mL) and oxalate (0.27 to 0.19 mg/100 mL) decreased. Titratable acidity (TTA) (0.23 to 0.26) and visible coagulation time (VCT) (15 to 19 days) increased while pH (6.33 to 5.59), and viscosity (0.48 to 0.45 mPa) decreased. General acceptability (7.01 to 6.41) decreased. The nutrient contents of all the milk blends varied due to increasing concentration effects of the ash, but were acceptable to the panellists mostly at lower levels.