Production and Quality Evaluation of Gari Enriched with Rice Bran Flour

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the potential of enriching gari with rice bran flour (RB). Rice bran was obtained from milled rice  and instantly stabilized. The stabilized rice bran was added to the grated cassava mash at 10, 20, 30, and 40% level. The samples were  analyzed for the proximate composition, functional, pasting and sensory properties. Proximate composition revealed that fortification of  gari with rice bran significantly (P< 0.05) increased the protein content from 2.33% in the control to a range of 24.78-32.59%. The  fortification also increased the fibre, ash, and fat but decreased the carbohydrate content with an increase in rice bran addition. The pH  increased with an increase in rice bran. The enriched gari adequately absorbed water which increased with an increase in rice bran level. The rice bran addition significantly (P <0.05) increased the bulk density and swelling capacity. The gari containing 10% RB had the lowest  pasting properties while 100% CM had the highest values except for peak viscosity. The sample enriched with 40% rice bran had the  lowest score of 5.15 for appearance which was rejected by the panelist as being too dark. The enriched samples were less sour than the  control sample. Based on overall acceptability, the control sample was the best. However, enrichment with rice bran flour produced gari  that scored high in terms of the physicochemicals.