Effect of Different Drying Methods on Chemical Composition of Unripe Plantain Flour

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. Proximate composition and minerals contents were determined using standard AOAC methods. 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. 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 the dried sample, hence prolonging storage life. Segilola, V. O | Amodu, S. O | Olatunji, C. A "Effect of Different Drying Methods on Chemical Composition of Unripe Plantain Flour" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-3 , April 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38725.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/biological-science/allied-sciences/38725/effect-of-different-drying-methods-on-chemical-composition-of-unripe-plantain-flour/segilola-v-o