Abstract:
Purple yam (Dioscorea alata L.) is renowned for its nutrient composition, vibrant colour, and potential health benefits. However, purple yam has a short shelf life and is easily spoiled due to its high moisture content. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a suwandel rice-incorporated instant purple yam porridge mixture. Six porridge formula were formulated considering the availability of nutritive value, flavour, colour and the gravy of the final processed instant porridge mixture, based on literature. They were made from dehydrate oven-dried (Cabilac) and vacuum-oven (DZ-1BCII)-dried purple yam flour,
incorporated with dehydrate-oven-dried Suwandel rice flour. The best formula was selected by a sensory analysis with thirty semi-trained panellists using 5-point hedonic scale. Proximate composition, colour, and water absorption capacity of the final product were analysed. The sensory analysis revealed that F2 which contained 49% dehydrate oven dried purple yam flour, 49% dehydrate oven dried Suwandel rice flour, and 2% garlic powder was the best with respect to appearance, colour, odour, taste, after taste, and overall acceptability. The moisture, protein, fat, and ash content of the final product were 5.61%, 6.99%, 0.12% and 5.26%, respectively. The colour of dehydrate oven dried flour sample was darker containing a lower L* value of 46.52 than vacuum oven-dried flour
with higher a* and b* values of 7.78 and 14.29, respectively, which had vibrant purple colour. The water absorption capacity of the final product was 2.56 (g/g). Thus, this study offers a solution to the challenges of purple yam preservation, providing a convenient and nutritionally rich instant porridge option.
