Quality Assesment of Pepper Paste Using Different Milling Methods

This paper focused on milling methods for pepper. Four milling methods were considered; Attrition, Stone, Mortar & pestle, and Blender. Investigation on the quality; the microbial analysis, the physiochemical analysis, and the sensory evaluation were carried out on pepper milled using these milling methods mention above. The output temperature of the pepper for stone, mortar & pestle, blender and attrition were 38.470C, 38.470C, 48.370C and 48.470C respectively. The yield efficiency of the pepper for Attrition, mortar & pestle and Blender were 87.1%, 90.47%, 94.4% and 96.17% respectively. Total plate count, coliform count and fungal count for Attrition, Stone, mortar & pestle and Blender were 1.6 x 10-6, 2.3 x 102 & 8 x 10-5; 1.65 x 10-5, 1.29 x 102 & 2.08 x 10-3; 7.4 x 10-6, 4.9 x 10-3 & 1 x 10-3; and 2.28 x 10-9 , 1.33 x 102 & 2.16 x 10-3 respectively. Showing that Attrition had the highest level of microbiological contamination. Physiochemical analysis of the product for Attrition had reduction in protein, ester extract, (fat), ash and crude fibre. It also has high level of iron, zinc, and magnesium compared to the other methods of milling, these show that the nutrient contents of the product was adversely affected. Sensory evaluation shows that the colour and texture of the pepper milled with Attrition and stone were preferred above mortar & pestle and blender. In terms of quality, stone and Mortar & pestle have advantage over Attrition and blender, with the nutrients having little or no significant damage with less microbial contamination.