Functional and Proximate Composition of Biscuit Produced from Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Flour, Soybean (Glycine max) Flour and Mint Leaf (Mentha piperita)

Abstract

Composite flours were made with various blends of wheat flour, soybean flour and mint leaf to determine their nutritive potential and sensory acceptability in biscuit production. The study revealed that most of the parameters studied were significant in the production of high-quality biscuits. The results obtained showed that increasing soybean flour content of the composite flours increased protein of the biscuits. The functional range of the biscuits produced were 8.17 to 9.83ml for water absorption; 7.90 to 9.23ml for oil absorption capacity; 0.59 to 0.74g/ml for bulk density and 2.73 to 4.50ml for swelling capacity. Proximate composition range of the biscuits produced were 7.14 to 10.20% for moisture; 12.01 to 18.01% for crude protein; 6.40 to 9.50% for fat; 2.51 to 5.98% for crude fibre; 0.70 to 1.80% for ash and 57.57 to 68.18% for carbohydrate. The sensory ratings revealed that the biscuit produced from the blends of 70% wheat flour, 28.75% soybean flour and 1.25% mint leaf having a protein content of 15.01% was generally accepted as that of the biscuit produced from 100% wheat flour. The outcome of the research showed that incorporating soybean flour into biscuit production creates opportunities for food producers to provide more healthy protein enriched products, thus, implies that consumption of large quantities of soybean flour enriched products will contribute to alleviating protein malnutrition in at risk population.