Comparative Evaluation of the Nutritive and Functional Attributes of Some Traditional Nigerian Snacks and Oil Seed Cakes

The proximate composition, the content of nutritionally valuable minerals and functional properties of some traditional Nigerian snacks: peanut ball (Kulikuli), maize-groundnut ball (Donkwa) and melon ball (Robo) were analyzed along with some oilseed cakes: groundnut cake (GNC), palm kernel cake (PKC) and soya bean cake (SBC). On the average the samples contained 31.7 g/100 g DM crude protein (range, 25.2- 34.3 g/100 g DM); 20.6 g/100g DM crude fat (range, 9.2-29.6 g/100g DM); 8.0 g/100g DM crude fibre(range, 2.5-22.4g/100g DM) and ash 10.5 g/100g (range, 2.0-20 g/100g DM) The protein content of the snacks were generally similar to those of the oilseed cakes, while the fat content of the snacks were much higher. The crude fibre content was least in kulikuli while PKC had the highest value. The ash content of the snacks were generally much higher than those of the oilseed cakes. The gross energy ranged between 310.8 kcal/100 g in PKC to 559.2 kcal/100 g in kulikuli. Ca, Mg, P, K and Na were the most abundant minerals in both the snacks and oilseed cakes, while the Zn, Cu and Mn were the least abundant. The snacks were particularly much higher in their Na content. Among the functional attributes, the water absorption capacity (WAC) ranged from 70 to 220% in the traditional snacks, and from 200 to 260 % in the oilseed cakes. Foaming absorption capacity (FAC), varied from 128 to 147% in the snacks while it varied from 184 to 221% in the oilseed cakes. The least gelation concentration of Kulikuli, Robo and palm kernel cake were identical. Fat emulsion capacity and emulsion stability were also similar in all the products. All the samples had varying solubilities with change in pH. The proteins generally had multiple maxima and minima in their solubilities.