Effect of Cassava Flour on the Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Konkonde, a Traditional Dish Prepared from Unripe Plantain Flour

Plantain flour is gradually finding applications in weaning food supplementation and composite flour preparations in Cote d’Ivoire. This study therefore aimed at evaluating the effect of cassava flour fortification on physicochemical and sensory properties consumer acceptability of plantain flour. The plantain-cassava mixes were prepared from green plantain and cassava. Substituted plantain flour with cassava flour at varying proportions (100:0; 90:10; 80:20; 70:30; 60:40; 50:50) was evaluated for physicochemical and properties. Reconstituted thick paste konkonde” prepared from all the flour samples were evaluated for consumer acceptability. Substitution of unripe plantain flour with cassava flour up to a level of 20% had no significant (p>0.05) effect on the colour, texture and overall acceptability of the konkonde samples. The swelling power and solubility of the flour samples decreased while the water absorption capacity and bulk density increased on cassava substitution. The pasting viscosity analysis showed that cassava flour addition increased the peak viscosity and breakdown of the flour while the peak time and pasting temperature decreased. The sensory evaluation of the reconstituted plantain thick paste indicated a sharp difference at 5 % probability level in all quality attributes between 30 to 40% substitution, while that 30% cassava flour reconstituted “konkonde” was more preferred.