EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND SENSORIAL PROPERTIES OF COOKIES FROM COMPOSITE SORGHUM AND COWPEA FLOURS

There has been a growing demand for gluten-free and functional products, driven by consumer preferences for healthier and more diverse food choices. There is a need to explore new ingredients that can be used as alternatives to traditional gluten-containing grains like wheat. Sorghum and cowpea are two such ingredients that have great potentials. This work evaluated the physical, chemical, technological, and sensorial properties of cookies from composite tannin sorghum and white cowpea flours. Cookies were produced from the composite flour, at ratios (sorghum: cowpea) of 70:30, 50:50 and 30:70. Control samples were 100% sorghum or cowpea flour cookies. After production, cookies were characterized (e.g. dietary fiber, resistant starch, proteins, antioxidant capacity, pasting properties, etc). Addition of cowpea flour increased the expansion ratio of cookies, but did not affect the weight loss. Protein, ash, and dietary fiber contents were observed to increase with an increase in the percentage substitution of cowpea flour. Values obtained, as percentage of sorghum flour increased, for total free phenolics, tannins and resistant starch ranged between 0.62-45.34 mg GAE/g, 0.38-47.25 mg CE/g, and 0.16-36.29 g/100g, respectively. Addition of cowpea flour did not interfere in the hardness of cookies, but affected its pasting properties (e.g. lower set back). Finally, the sensory evaluation scores for cookies indicated that the products had good acceptability, with all evaluated products having scores above the cutoff score of 5. Overall acceptance and intention to purchase were higher for cookies with 70% cowpea flour (7.03 and 76.7%, respectively). In conclusion, healthy gluten-free cookies of good acceptability can be produced from sorghum flour with up to 70% substitution of cowpea flour.