Nutritional and Sensory Properties of Ukpo-Oka Produced from Optimized Maize-Pigeon Pea Flour Blend

Ukpo-oka, a type of maize-based pudding, has similarities to moi-moi, a steamed bean pudding. Typically, deficient in protein content, ukpo-oka is often consumed without any additional protein sources. The prevalence of nutritional deficiencies can be linked to the excessive reliance on single food items, resulting in monotonous diets. Cereals like maize are notably insufficient in protein, vitamins, and minerals. This study investigated the nutritional properties as well as the sensory evaluation of enriched ukpo-oka produced from an optimized maize-pigeon pea flour blend. An i-optimal mixture design within the framework of response surface methodology was employed for the optimization. The predictive models gave an optimal maize-pigeon pea blend of 54.3% maize and 45.7% pigeon pea with a desirability factor of 0.605.Proximate analysis of the enriched pudding revealed 36.2%, 13.49%, 10.35%, 2.93%, 3.86%, and 33.17% for moisture, protein, fat, crude fibre, ash, and carbohydrate respectively with an energy value of 408.79 ± 0.13 kcal. Mineral analysis on the enriched pudding showed improved levels of iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, and magnesium which were 6.42 mg/100 g, 3.13 mg/100 g, 136.28 mg/100 g, 52.68 mg/100 g and 74.85 mg/100 g respectively. The essential amino acids: leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, valine, methionine, histidine, isoleucine, and threonine levels were 7.3 g/100 g, 4.46 g/100 g, 3.96 g/100 g, 1.29 g/100 g, 3.51 g/100 g, 1.25 g/100 g, 2.35 g/100 g, 4.03 g/100 g and 3.25 g/100 g respectively for the enriched pudding. Sensory evaluation revealed that 100% maize pudding (control) was preferred than the enriched pudding across all attributes analysed. Overall, the results showed that the enriched ukpo-oka had better nutritional profiles than the 100% maize pudding. However, because of the high pigeon pea content in the optimized flour blend, the sensory study revealed that it was significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) from the traditionally known ukpo-oka. Nevertheless, this resulting pudding offers a wholesome and promising solution for promoting dietary diversification and contributing to nutrition security.