EFFECT OF DATE FLOUR AS SUGAR SUBSTITUTE ON THE TEXTURAL, PASTING PROPERTIES AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINCHIN

This paper studied the textural and quality characteristics of Chinchin produced from wheat with date flour substituted at varying proportion as sugar replacer(FTB (100%), BYT (90:10), BGD (80:20), FYB (70:30), MOA (60:40) and BOT (50:50).These were deep fried at 180 o C for 8min.Pasting, Functional properties, mineral content, colour and consumer acceptability were also evaluated.The result revealed that significant difference (P<0.05)exited between values obtained for pasting, functional and textural properties.The values of cohesiveness, gumminess, resilience and springiness ranged from 0.11-0.30,2788-6920, 0.09-3.34and 0.27-1.38,respectively.There was significant impact (P<0.05) of Date fruits on the mineral content and particularly the colour of the composite flour and the chinchin.The organoleptic attributes significantly decreased with increase in the inclusion of date flour.The possibility of Chinchin produced with moderate date fruits flour inclusion as sugar substitute was established.