The Effect of Cocoa Powder and Banana Flour on the Chemical and Sensory Properties of Whole Wheat Based Biscuits

Economically, the development of biscuits from composite flours is advantageous. The utilization of cocoa powder, banana flour and wheat flour in the production of composite biscuit aims at developing a functional food that is relatively cheap and available. This study focuses on the evaluation of biscuit produced from composite blends of cocoa powder, banana flour and whole wheat flour in the ratios 5:5:90, 10:10:80,15:15:70, 20:20:60, 25:25:50 and 0:0:100 (as the control) respectively. The biscuits samples were evaluated for their proximate composition, antioxidants and sensory properties using standard procedures. The proximate composition result revealed the biscuits were significantly different from one another and these are in the ranges of 11.09 to 25.10 %,14.33 to 26.67%, 2.13 to 4.87%, 1.73- 9.47%, 1.85 to 3.77% and 44.73 to 59.86% for protein content, fat, ash, moisture content, crude fibre and carbohydrate respectively. The antioxidants properties results ranged as follows: reducing power (1.05-3.54mg/g), total phenol (1.48-3.79mg/g), flavonoid (0.24-6.8mg/g), and total antioxidant. (2.9-9.91mg/g). The sensory evaluation was also carried out for color, flavor, taste, crispiness and overall acceptability; the results were 5.10 -7.80, 4.20- 7.50, 2.90 – 7.50, 4.60– 7.40 and 4.50- 7.70 respectively. The values for the colour of the composite samples increased with increased inclusion of cocoa powder and banana flour. Hence, samples with smaller inclusions are darker than those with higher inclusion of cocoa powder and banana flour. Interestingly, sample containing 5% whole wheat flour and 10% each of cocoa powder and banana flour was the best in terms of nutritional and sensory qualities. Keywords: Cocoa powder, anti-oxidative potentials, composite biscuits, nutritional quality