Production of Breakfast Cereals from Locally Available Foods

Breakfast cereals were produced using different methods using soybeans, maize, and cassava flour and starch and by-products from these foods with or without fruit pulps. Those with fruit pulps were more acceptable. The effects of various concentrations of different ripe fruit pulps on the sensory and nutritive quality of breakfast cereal were studied. The breakfast cereal was formulated using 1 kg composite flour (composed of 600g maize flour and 400g soy flour) in addition to 100g cassava starch, 225 g sugar and 12g of salt. Pineapple, paw-paw and banana ripe fruit pulps were added separately to the breakfast formulation at concentrations of 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400g per 1kg of composite flour. Using sensory evaluation, the data obtained showed that samples containing 100g of pineapple, 100g of banana pulp and 100g of pawpaw fruit pulp per kg of composite flour (equivalent to 7% of the total weight of the breakfast cereal
formulation) were the most acceptable of all concentrations. These samples were comparable in sensory evaluation scores to the commercial breakfast cereal sample Golden morn. Chemical analysis also showed that there was increase in beta carotene (vitamin A precursor), vitamin C and slight increase in the mineral content of the breakfast cereal as a result of the addition of fruit pulp.