Effects of processing and storage on the chemical and organoleptic qualityof Ugba, fermented seeds of African oil bean tree (Pentaclethra macrophylla Bentham)
Ci. Iwuoha et al., Effects of processing and storage on the chemical and organoleptic qualityof Ugba, fermented seeds of African oil bean tree (Pentaclethra macrophylla Bentham), J FD SCI M, 37(4), 2000, pp. 337-343
The chemical composition. microbial load, and organoleptic attributes of fe
rmented African oil bean seed, (AOBS) (Pentaclethra macrophylla Bentham). U
gba. were evaluated. Traditional processing method (TFM) was compared with
its modified counterpart (MFM). Other test variables included storage tempe
rature and period, packaging material and boiling pattern. Boiling effected
15% reduction in protein content, while fermentation increased it by 51.90
-61.70% further, from Ugba obtained through boiling-before-slicing (BSF) ra
ther than by slicing-before-boiling (SBF). Fermentation led to 15.26% reduc
tion in fat, with simultaneous increases in pH and acidity during processin
g. The observed pH values were 5.30 (raw seeds), 5.90 (boiled seeds), 7.10-
7.30 (fresh ugba), and 8.30-8.49 (7-days stored ugba). The titratable acidi
ty increased 5-fold in a 48 h fermentation. Refrigeration and freezing cond
itions reduced microbial load of ugba moderately during storage. Transparen
t plastic film (TPF) was a more preferred package for ugba than transparent
glass jar (TGJ). sensory evaluation showed that TFM ugba was accepted very
much with weighted mean score of 7.88 out of 9 maximum, while the BSF (MFM
) was moderately accepted with a score of 6.96. Generally. fresh ugba was m
ore accepted than the ones stored for 7 days (30 degrees +/- 2 degreesC). O
n boiling pattern, it was observed that the variation due to BSF and SBF we
re significant (P=0.05) in flavour, texture and colour attributes of result
ant ugba. Flavour was found to be the most influencing quality attribute of
ugba, followed by texture and then colour.