Development and Characterization of Instant Nutrient Dense Amaranth-based Composite Soup for Women of Child Bearing Age

Aim: This study was aimed to develop nutrient dense instant grain amaranth-based soup with high protein, vitamin A, iron, zinc and dietary fibre contents for women of child bearing age using locally available crops in Uganda.

Study Design: Six soups were produced from blends of extruded grain amaranth, groundnut, ROBA beans, pumpkin, orange fleshed sweet potato, carrot and maize flours in different proportions. The six formulations (soups) were tested for acceptability by panelists (n = 30) using the 9-point hedonic scale to obtain the most acceptable formulation. The most acceptable formulation was developed into an instant soup using extrusion cooking at barrel temperature of 169 ◦C and feed moisture of 14% to obtain an instant flour.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, School of Food Technology, Nutrition & Bioengineering, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, between January 2014 and January 2015.

Methodology: Sautéed and oven dried tomatoes, green pepper, ginger, garlic and other seasonings were milled coarsely and then incorporated into the instant powder to obtain the instant soup. The nutritional, physicochemical properties and consumers’ acceptability of the instant soup were evaluated and compared with commonly used commercial soup.

Results: The formulated soup had a significantly higher nutrient density than the commercial soup. The instant soup had 11.83% protein, 4.9 mg/100g iron, 5.61 mg/100g zinc and 621.29 µgRAE/100g vitamin A. The sensory properties of the amaranth based instant soup revealed the soup was more liked over the commercial soup. Pasting properties showed that the amaranth based soup has better stability against retrogradation than the commercial soup.

Conclusion: Nutritious instant soup can be developed from amaranth-based flours.