Journal of Advances in Food Science & Technology

Composite of unripe banana flour (60%) and sweet potato flour (40%) was blended with 10, 20, 30 and 40% red kidney bean flour and used for the production of gluten free biscuits. The 100% composite of unripe banana and sweet potato flours (unsupplemented flour) was used as the control. The effects of supplementing the composite flour with kidney beans flour on the functional properties of the flour and physical, proximate composition and sensory characteristics of the biscuits were investigated. The result showed that the bulk density, water absorption capacity and swelling index of the flours decreased while oil absorption and foaming capacities increased with increasing percentage of kidney bean flour supplementation. The thickness of prepared gluten free biscuit increased while the weight, length, width and spread ratio decreased with increasing level of kidney bean flour incorporation. Supplementation of banana and sweet potato composite flour with kidney bean flour led to increase in crude protein and crude fibre contents in the biscuit from 8.75% to 13.28% and 2.75% to 3.27%, respectively while the crude fat, ash and carbohydrate contents decreased from 13.50% to 12.00%, 5.13% to 4.41% and 69.87% to 67.04%, respectively. Sensory mean score values showed that incorporation of kidney bean flour into composite of banana and sweet potato flour improved all the evaluated sensory attributes of the biscuits. Biscuits produced from 20% and 30% kidney bean flour incorporation were the most preferred by the panelists in terms of overall acceptability. The produced biscuits from red kidney bean flour supplemented blends had improved nutritional value and high fibre content and could be suitable for use as functional foods for celiac disease patients.