Abstract:
The desire for healthy and safe choice of food is increasing with the recent use of functional foods that can serve as healthier choices to the consumers. Incorporation of sesame flour into snacks may improve and provide healthier options for consumers. Due to the anti-nutrients present in sesame seeds, a number of treatments have been conducted on the seeds to reduce its anti-nutrients contents and improve the nutrient composition of the seeds .The objective of this work was to assess the effect of biological and heat treatments on nutritional, phytochemical properties of sesame seed and sensory acceptability of cookies produced from the composite flour. Five samples (full fat, defatted, germinated and fermented, germinated, fermented and cooked, and germinated, fermented and roasted) were used for this study. Proximate, functional, physico-chemical, and mineral analysis were conducted on the flour samples and sensory analysis was carried out on the cookies produced from the flour samples. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The values (%) of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, and carbohydrates contents ranged from 3.31-3.76, 0.23-4.53, 15.84- 40.80, 17.95-55.25, 0.37 - 1.09, 18.42 -33.88. The values (%) obtained for mineral contents ranged from 0.080 to 4.440, 0.029 to 0.845, 0.034 to 0.653, 0.190 to 0.383, 0.089 to 0.493, 0.101 to 0.260 for calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, and iron respectively. The results obtained for
the sensory analysis were comparable with that of the control sample.
In conclusion, the heat and biological treatment carried out on sesame seed improved its
nutrient content and reduced anti-nutritional factors leading to better nutrient bioavailability.
The incorporation of sesame seeds flour into cookies improved their nutritional quality with
acceptable sensory attributes. This could lead to improved healthy eating habits in children
and adults.
