Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of selected cooking characteristics of prime starch and food grade fibre isolated from cassava (Manihot esculenta) pulp

B.  Daramola* and O. O.  Makanju

Department of Food Technology, Federal Polytechnic, P.M.B. 5351, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: daramola_bode@yahoo.co.uk.

Accepted 3 June, 2008

Ease of separation of dietary fibre components of cassava pulp relative to other tropical root crops was the motivation for this study. Food grade fibres were isolated from cassava pulp using simple technique that consist essentially solvent mixture-separation procedure. Assessment of selected cooking proprieties namely paste formation and swelling capacity of the fibre isolates in comparison to the prime starch showed that isolated fibres exhibited variable cooking properties that are collectively independent of fibre size as determined by sieve mesh clearance, contrast to the cooking property of the prime starch. The fibres may find usefulness as carbohydrate food ingredients.              

 Key words: Cassava pulp, solvent-clearance separation, food fibre, cooking property.