Abstract:
Aerial yam is a member of the Dioscoreaceae family which consist several varieties found in South
Asia and Africa. The tubers are under-utilized and not commercially grown; but are cultivated
and consumed among rural dwellers in parts of Western Nigeria. The tubers were washed, sorted,
peeled, sliced and blanched in hot water at 80ºC for 10min. The blanched yam slices were divided
into four portions. Two portions were fermented for 48hr and sun (BFSUD) and solar (BFSOD)
dried. The other two blanched portions were also sun (BSUD) and solar (BSOD) dried respectively.
The dried slices were milled, sieved and used for proximate, functional and phytochemical
analysis. Proximate composition of aerial yam fl our was: moisture content (7.66-10.60%), total
ash (0.05-1.76%), crude protein (4.42-5.07%), crude fi bre (0.56-0.69%), crude fat (3.42-3.82%),
and carbohydrate (79.28-82.37%). The phytochemical constituent included alkaloid, steroids,
saponin and fl avonoid. The bulk density, water absorption capacity and dispersibility were within
the range of 0.52-0.54g/ml, 56.50-66.00g/g and 4.47-5.75% respectively. The sample, BFSUD
had the highest crude protein, dispersibility and water absorption capacity was selected and
mixed with cassava fl our for amala on which sensory evaluation was conducted. Five aerial yam
fl our (AY) treatments were formulated and coded as follow: AY100, AY80CS20, AY60CS40, AY40CS60, and
AY20CS80.
Cassava fl our (CS100) was used as control treatment. The overall acceptability of fl our
paste (amala) ranged from 5.45 (Sample AY80CS20) to 7.25 (sample AY100). The study revealed
treatment AY60CS40 and AY80CS20 possessed the overall acceptability, mean score above 7.0 (like
slightly). Therefore 60-80% incorporation of aerial yam fl our with cassava is recommended
based on desirable sensory characteristics. Aerial yam fl our can be used for food preparation and
commercial purpose which may in turn increase the utilization.
