ENERGY OPTIMIZATION, PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, MINERALS CONTENT AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF COOKIES: A COMPLEMENTARY SNACK PRODUCED FROM DEFFATED CRICKET AND SORGHUM FLOUR BLENDS

In this study, energy optimization, proximate composition, mineral content and sensory evaluation of cookies produced from malted sorghum and defatted cricket flour blend were study. A preliminary study was carried out to ascertain the optimum acceptable limit of cricket flour in sorghum cookies production, cricket flour yielded the most acceptable cookies at 30% w/w, hence in the main study the level of cricket flour was varied to 30% w/w, while sorghum flour was varied in the ration 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15, 80:20, 75:25 and 70:30 giving a total of seven samples. Proximate composition, selected mineral composition and sensory evaluation of the cookies were done using standard analytical methods. Energy optimization was also done using standard methods. The protein content of the cookies increased from 7.99% to 17.55% as the percentage of cricket flour increased from 0 to 30%. Calcium, Zinc and Fe content ranged from 11 mg/100g to 60 mg/100g, 2 mg/100g to 19 mg/100g, 0.6 mg/100g to 9 mg/100g, respectively. Consuming 1.78 packet will provide 79.17 kcal which is about 40% of the kcal required to be supplied by complementary foods considering the energy needs from complementary foods for infants with “average” breast milk intake in developing countries which are approximately 200 kcal per day at 6-8 months of age, 300 kcal per day at 9-11 months of age, and 550 kcal per day at 12-23 months of age. Sample A was the most accepted. This study hence provides a way improving the nutritional content of cookies by addition of defatted cricket to malted sorghum flour.