title: Salts soaking treatment for improving the textural and functional properties of trifoliate yam (Dioscorea dumetorum) hardened tubers.
abstract: Processing of Dioscorea dumetorum hardened tubers into flour could be a means of adding a longer-term value to this tropical plant with a high nutritional potential, but which presents a postharvest hardening problem characterized by a hard-to-cook defect. In an attempt to investigate the changes leading to salts soaking treatment of hardened tubers, the central composite rotatable design for K= 2 was used to study the combined effect of NaCl concentration (0% to 6%) and pH (4 to 10) on tubers cooked hardness, and 6 kanwa alkaline salt concentrations (1:3 (w/v); 0%, 0.2%, 0.5%, 0.8%, 1%, and 1.5%; pH 11.3 +/- 0.2) were used to study the effect of kanwa treatment on tuber cooked hardness and functional properties of resulting flours. The results showed that salts soaking treatment significantly decreased (P</= 0.05) tubers cooked hardness, independently of the solution pH, but could not totally overcome the tubers hardening phenomenon, as a consequence of the multiple mechanisms of D. dumetorum tuber hardening. Nevertheless, kanwa concentrations of 0.8% to 1.5% could be used to tenderize hardened tubers prior to its transformation in flour. Except oil absorption capacity, initial soaking of hardened tubers in kanwa solutions significantly influenced (P</= 0.05) the functional properties of the resulting flours. Water absorption capacity increased with increasing of kanwa concentration while the other properties evaluated (water solubility index, hydrophilic-lipophilic index, bulk density, swelling capacity, least gel-forming concentration) decreased.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Food and Nutrition Research, IMPM, P.O. Box 6163, Yaounde, Cameroon. gmedoua@yahoo.fr
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Medoua
authors.forename: I L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Mbome
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Egbe
authors.forename: C M F
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mbofung
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D027742:Dioscorea / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005433:Flour / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005524:Food Technology; D005782:Gels; D006244:Hardness; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D014867:Water; D012965:Sodium Chloride