Effect of frying conditions on storage stability of fried maize snack (kokoro)

Abstract

Snacks can be produced from maize and other cereals and legumes. Kokoro is a popular traditional fried maize snack widely consumed among adults and children in South Western states of Nigeria. Short shelf life is associated with fried products including kokoro. Improving its shelf life therefore entails understanding the frying process, optimizing the frying condition and studying the storage stability of the fried product. This work was designed to study the storage stability of kokoro (produced at the recommended optimum processing condition) enriched with African yam bean (AYB) and evaluate its storage life. The kokoro was produced and packaged in polyethylene bags (100μm) and stored at ambient conditions (24°C±3°C temperature and 61%±3% relative humidity). The product was stored for a period of fourteen weeks during which, the free fatty acid value and sensory evaluation parameters of the samples were determined weekly. Moisture adsorption isotherm characteristics of the product were also determined. The result obtained for the storage parameters showed that the product would maintain good qualities for a period of twelve weeks.