Effects of Drying Methods on the Nutritional Composition of Unripe Plantain Flour

Abstract

Food processing is often thought to bring about changes in nutrients content, thus decreasing its patronage. To investigate this in a Nigerian staple, unripe plantain (Musa paradisiaca) flours were prepared following sun drying and oven drying methods. These were compared against fresh plantain for their nutritional composition. Unripe plantain was purchased from railway market, Makurdi metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria. Proximate composition, phytochemical screening, vitamin C content and inorganic minerals contents were determined following AOAC methods, colorimetric methods and titration methods respectively. The results showed that the unripe plantains pulp contained 59.77%, 1.42%, 1.51%, 1.40%, 7.65%, 28.23%, 40.22% and 38.80% of moisture, ash, fat/oils, crude fibre, crude protein, carbohydrates, dry matter and organic matter respectively. Calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, and nitrogen were determined to be 0.1534 ppm, 0.2613 ppm, 0.3034 ppm, 0.7808 ppm and 0.2240 ppm respectively. Saponin, tannins, and phenols were not detected in both the processed and fresh samples. Vit C was 5.00 mg/100g in the fresh sample, and 1.24 and 1.27 mg/100g in the oven dried and sun dried samples respectively. Both of the processing methods produced flour with similar nutritional composition. However, oven drying gave the lowest moisture content in the flour, suggesting a higher capacity to prevent microbial growth and decay in dried sample, hence prolonging storage life.

Keywords: phytochemicals, vitamin C, proximate composition, Musa paradisiaca