Influence of hydrothermal treatment of maize grains on the quality and acceptability of Tuwon masara (traditional maize gel)

The influence of hydrothermal treatment of maize grains, meant for flour production, on the quality and acceptability of tuwon masara (traditional maize gel) was investigated. The grains were variously hydrothermally-treated at 65±1 °C for 30, 45 and 60 min, respectively, as well as at 75±1; 85±1 and 95±1 °C for the same aforementioned time intervals, respectively. The pasting characteristics of traditionally-produced maize flour (control) in terms of apparent gelatinization temperature, peak viscosity, final viscosity when held for 15 min at 50 °C, consistency and setback values were 82.5 °C, 140 BU, 436 BU, 444 BU and 436 BU, respectively while the ranges for those from hydrothermally-treated grains were 72.5–87.5 °C, 194–400 BU, 212–816 BU, 252–770 BU and 190–672 BU, respectively. The peak viscosity of all the flour samples assessed, including the control, were attained at 95 °C, particularly after 15 min of holding while the stability of the paste of most of them during cooking was not affected. The functional properties of the control in terms of bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity and foaming capacity were 0.84 g/cm3, 2.20 g/g, 0.89 g/g and 4.08%, respectively while the ranges for those from hydrothermally-treated grains were 0.80–0.94 g/cm3, 2.30–3.10 g/g, 1.04–1.32 g/g and 4.08–5.20%, respectively. The sensory evaluation on the laboratory-prepared tuwon masara showed that none of the samples were significantly different in colour at P⩽0.05. BC3 (grains hydrothermally-treated at 75±1 °C for 60 min) had the highest scores for aroma, texture (ease of mouldability), taste and overall acceptability though these were not significantly different from CDI and CD2 (grains hydrothemally-treated at 85±1 °C for 30/45 min, respectively) at P⩽0.05.