Acceptability of Noodles Produced from Blends of Wheat, Acha and Soybean Composite Flours

Acha (Digitaria exilis) and soybean (Glycine max) were processed into flours and used to substitute wheat flour (Titicum aestivm) as a composite flour at different proportions of 100:0:0 (Wheat); 75:25:25 (Wheat: Acha: Soybean); 75:25 (Wheat: Acha); 75:25 (Wheat: Soybean) and 50:50 (Acha: soybean). The formulated blends were used to produce noodles. The noodles were subjected to proximate analysis, functional properties and sensory evaluation using commercial instant noodles as control. The results revealed that the protein, moisture, ash and fat contents were higher in the formulated samples than in the control. Sample AS (50% Acha and 50% Soybean) had 26.47% protein and was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the control (8.97%). The protein and fat contents increased while carbohydrate decreased with increase in soybean addition to the blend. The functional properties showed that water absorption capacity increased with increase in wheat blend. There were no significant differences (p < 0.05) between the formulated samples in their swelling index and wettability. The result of the sensory evaluation based on a nine point hedonic scale showed that generally apart from the control, noodles from 100% wheat and wheat noodles supplemented with soybean up to 25% were acceptable to the panelists.