Malnutrition appears in weaning age and is usually due to weaning food which is of low nutritional value. This problem led us to investigate the study of the physicochemical and functional properties of cassava flours and corn flours, and the fluidification of the gruels made from these flours by germinated yellow corn and sweet white potato flours. To do this, the approximate chemical composition, physical and functional properties, and ability of amylase‐rich flours to digest the starch in order to reduce consistency were evaluated. From these analyses, it emerges that the chemical composition, and physical and functional properties are influenced by the nature and the treatment undergone by the flours. It appears that the amylase‐rich flours that we used at a concentration of 1%–3% during the preparation of the gruels significantly reduced their consistencies. Given their strong liquefying power, this reduction was more marked with germinated corn flour where 1% permits to obtain desired consistency with 21.50 g of DM of bitter cassava flour, thereby multiplying the energy density and nutritional value of this flour by 5.18. It also appears that the action of flours rich in amylases was depending on the concentration, the nature of the flour, its composition, and the treatment undergone. In view of all these results, we can therefore consider the formulation of a weaning food with the consistency, and energy and nutritional value necessary for the proper growth of children.

Enzymatic browning, which usually occurs during irish potato tuber processing, causes deterioration in the nutritional, functional, physical and acceptability quality of the products derived from this matrix. To fight against this phenomenon, several treatment methods have been developed, such as bleaching. This led us to investigate the effect of bleaching on the physico-chemical, functional and rheological properties of three irish potato varieties. To achieve our objective, blanched and unbleached irish potatoes flours of three varieties (Cipira, Dosa and Pamela) were produced. The physico-chemical, functional and rheological aspects of the flours were then studied according to standard and developped methods. It appears from this study that treatment and variety significantly influenced (P < 0.05) the nutritional composition of irish potatoes flours. The physical properties with the exception of titratable acidity were affected (P < 0.05) by the treatment and the varieties. Analysis of the functional properties revealed that unbleached flours had a higher swelling rate and water retention capacity than bleached flours. Rheological properties, such as final viscosity, are influenced by the treatment and variety. The main component analysis showed that bleaching affects the properties of the varieties Pamela and Cipira. In view of all this, we can therefore highlight the applicability of each of the flours in a specific industrial field.

The energy density of the complementary gruels can be increased by the use of sprouted flours. This led us to determine the conditions for obtaining and using sprouted corn flour for optimal fluidification of fermented cassava flour gruels. To do this, the germinated corn flour (GCF) varieties Atp and Kassaï was produced according to the response surface methodology and the Doehlert plan was used with factors such as soaking (12–48 h) and germination (24–96 h) times. Once obtained, these GCF were used to increase the energy density of cassava flour gruels with flow velocity as response. The Doehlert plan was also used with fermented cassava flour concentration (17.5–30 %) and optimised sprouted corn flour mass (1–5 g) as factors. The experimental design that had been performed indicated that the effectiveness of corn amylase flour to fluidify the gruels depends not only to the conditions of production (soaking and germination) (p < 0.05) but also their incorporation during the preparation (corn amylase–fermented cassava flour) (p < 0.05). The rich corn amylase flour can be obtained by soaking Kassaï and Atp varieties for 20 h and 28 h respectively and germinated for 90.82 h. Application of these GCF during the preparation of fermented cassava flour gruels has shown that to obtain gruels with flow velocities between 100-160 mm/30s, it was necessary to couple 1.16 g of sprouted corn flour variety Kassaï for 26.23 % of fermented cassava flour and 1.12 g of corn flour variety Atp for 25.94 % of fermented cassava flour. The use of these couples has made it possible to multiply the energy density of the gruels by 6.55 and 6.49, respectively. In view of these results, it is therefore advisable to use the germinated corn flours produced under the conditions obtained to fluidise and increase the energy density of the fermented cassava gruels.

Background: Sour cassava starch is used as an alternative to wheat flour in breadmaking. However, its nutritional and technological properties are limited. To remedy this, the use of legumes has proved to be very successful. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the optimal condition for the production of bread made from sour cassava starch, peanut, cowpea and soybean flour. Methods: The I-optimal design was employed to obtain an optimal proportion of the mixture with the variables sour cassava starch, cowpea, soy and peanut flour. The responses evaluated were overall acceptability, specific volume and protein content. Results: It resulted that the incorporation of sour cassava starch positively influenced the volume but negatively influenced the protein content and overall acceptability. While the addition of legumes increased protein content and overall consumer acceptability, the specific volume was reduced. The optimal proportions of sour cassava starch, cowpea, soybean and peanut flour were 64.11%, 18.92%, 0% and 16.96%, respectively. Under this condition, it led to a desirability of 1, specific volume of 1.35, overall acceptability of 6.13, protein content of 9.72%, carbohydrate content of 67.89%, fat content of 9.39%, fiber content of 2.10% and ash content of 1.04%. Conclusions: The findings suggest that cowpea and peanut can be used for the improvement of the technological, nutritional and sensory properties of sour cassava starch bread and thus increase its consumption and application in the food processing industry.

Introduction: The utilization of sprouted meals in beer production and enhancing the physicochemical properties of supplementary foods is widespread in Africa. This work aimed to determine the influence of soaking, germination, maturation and variety conditions on the physicochemical properties, proteolytic activity, free amino nitrogen (FAN) and soluble protein contents of Coca-sr and Atp-Y maize varieties.Methods: To achieve this, the central composite design (CCD) was used for the optimization of five parameters, namely soaking time (18–42 h), plant salt concentration (0.5–1.2%), soaking temperature (25–41°C), sprouting time (80–195 h) and ripening time (17.50–42 h), and following dependent variables were investigated: proteolytic activity, FAN content and soluble protein. Optimal samples flours obtained were then subsequently subjected to physicochemical and functional analysis.Results: The analysis of results showed that the linear, interactive and quadratic effects of the factors significantly (p<0.05) affected the proteolytic activity, FAN and soluble protein contents of both varieties. The direction of each factor's variation and its effects were not similar in the two varieties. The optimal malting conditions were 7.31 h soaking with 1.678% vegetable salt at a temperature of 34.65°C followed by sprouting for 245.59 h and maturation for 0.765 h for the Atp-Y variety. For the Coca-sr variety, it requires 1.608 h of soaking with 1.678% vegetable salt at a temperature of 51.93°C followed by 273.94 h and 58.73 h for sprouting and ripening time respectively. The meals of Coca-sr produces using these optimal conditions showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher proteolytic activity, FAN and soluble protein content. The amylolytic activity was more pronounced in the Atp-Y variety, as was the content of essential amino acids. The above optimal conditions reduced the content of anti-nutrients (phytates, saponins, oxalates, condensed and hydrolysable tannins), improved the availability of minerals (Ca and Mg), reduced the pH, mass density, water retention capacity and swelling rate.Conclusion: As a result, the optimal flours of these two maize varieties could be applied in the formulation of supplementary foods, bakery products and beer by industrialists.