Consumers acceptance of composite cassava-maize-wheat breads using baking improvers

A consumer test of composite cassava: maize: wheat (40:10:50) breads prepared with improvers, 0.3% emulsifiers, either as lecithin (LC) or diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono-diglycerides (DATEM), and 3% hydrocolloids, either as high-methylated pectin (HM pectin) or carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), was carried out in supermarkets in Mozambique. Overall acceptance and sensory attributes such as appearance, texture, smell, flavour, and crumb and crust colour were evaluated, and the consumption pattern and purchase intent were determined using a structured questionnaire. Composite bread quality characteristics, such as specific volume, crust colour, moisture content and firmness, were assessed instrumentally. The consumers’ overall acceptance of the composite bread with a mixture of roasted and sundried cassava flours and HM pectin added and LC had a score of 7.58, which was slightly higher than 7.28 for the composite bread with roasted cassava flour. The hedonic test showed that the perceived overall quality of the optimized composite bread based on roasted cassava flour with CMC and DATEM had a score of 7.47, which was significantly higher than the corresponding bread with HM pectin and LC (7.01), but not significantly different from commercial wheat bread (7.82). Crust colour and crumb colour and firmness correlated highly with their perceived sensorial counterpart properties. Key words: Sensory evaluation, bread quality, composite flour, cassava, hydrocolloids, emulsifiers.