Annals. Food Science and Technology 2017 Available on-line at www.afst.valahia.ro Volume 18, Issue 2, 2017 183 QUALITY EVALUATION OF COCOYAM-COWPEA FLOUR BLENDS AND SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF THEIR COOKED PASTE (AMALA) Michael Ayodele Idowu 1 , Abiodun Aderoju Adeola 2* , Dorcas Juwon Olaniyan 1 , Emmanuel Kehinde Oke, Saheed Adewale Omoniyi 3 1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. 2 Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. 3 Department of Home Science and Management, Federal University, Gashua, Nigeria * E-mail: adeolaroni@yahoo.com; adeolaaa@funaab.edu.ng Abstract Cocoyam, as an indigenous starchy food crop, is a desirable vehicle in alleviating the endemic protein malnutrition in Nigeria. This study evaluated some quality attributes of cocoyam-cowpea flour blends and the sensory attributes of their cooked paste (amala). Fermented cocoyam flour (FCF) was substituted with cowpea flour (CWF) at 0 (control), 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% levels. The proximate and mineral composition, functional and pasting properties of FCF-CWF mixtures, and sensory properties of cooked paste obtained from the mixtures were determined using standard methods. Range of values for moisture, protein, fat, ash, crude fibre and carbohydrate contents of the FCF-CWF blends were 8.88 - 9.40%, 6.05 - 14.2%, 0.72 - 1.76%, 3.20 - 3.44%, 1.86 - 2.46% and 69.3 - 78.8%, respectively. The calcium, sodium and magnesium contents of the flour blends increased with increase in CWF. The bulk density of the control sample was not significantly (p>0.05) affected by substituting with CWF. The water absorption and swelling power of the control were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by CWF up to 40% and 30% substitution levels, respectively. Apart from the peak, trough and breakdown viscosities, there was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the pasting characteristics of both control and flour blends. Substituting FCF with CWF up to 20% level did not significantly (p>0.05) affect the texture, taste and overall acceptability of the paste. An acceptable cooked paste (amala) could be produced from fermented cocoyam flour enriched with 20% cowpea flour. Keywords: cocoyam flour, cowpea flour, cooked paste, proximate composition, sensory properties Received: 13.03.2017 Received in revised form: 31.05.2017 Accepted: 05.06.2017 1. INTRODUCTION Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) is a staple root crop in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific (Temesgen and Retta, 2015). Among root crops in Nigeria, cocoyam ranks third in importance after cassava and yam, in terms of cultivation and consumption (Olayiwola et al., 2012). It is consumed in Nigerian homes either as boiled or cooked paste (amala), mostly during periods preceding yam harvest, and this underscores its importance as a possible substitute for yam (Ajijola et al., 2003). Cocoyam is high in carbohydrate, but low in protein (1-2 %), especially sulphur-containing amino acids (Temesgen and Retta, 2015). Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a popular legume in many parts of West Africa, including Nigeria (Olayiwola et al., 2012). Cowpea seeds are consumed as boiled either alone or in combination with other foods such as rice, maize and plantain. According to Henshaw et al., (2000) cowpeas could be processed into paste or flour for the preparation of various traditional foods such as akara (fried cowpea paste), moinmoin (steamed cowpea paste) and gbegiri (cowpea soup). Cowpea seed contains about 20.42-32.60% protein, and it is increasingly being acknowledged as an alternative protein source to animal proteins (Sing and Singh, 1992; Bradbury and Holloway, 1998; Xiong et al., 2013). Hence, cowpea seeds are valuable in the supplementation of starchy traditional meals such as amala. Blends of flour from legumes and tubers have been reported to possess superior nutritional quality than the one produced from either tuber or legume alone (Awoyale et al., 2010; Igbabul et al., 2015).