Cocoa-fortified warankashi: Nutritional enhancement, antioxidant properties and storage stability

Functional foods consumption through fortification with antioxidants rich natural products such as cocoa products has now been advocated as an effective means for prevention of degenerative diseases. Hence, the nutrients composition, anti-oxidative and storage potentials of Nigerian local soft cheese (warankashi) fortified with cocoa powder was studied. Different proportions of cocoa powder were added to freshly collected cow milk to produce warankashi using standard method with Sodom apple as the coagulant. The data obtained were subjected to statistical evaluation using ANOVA. The result showed that the crude protein, crude fat content vitamins A, E, B 3 ,D, phosphorus and calcium content significantly increased with increasing addition of cocoa powder. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBA-RS), free fatty acid and peroxide value also increased under storage in cocoa powder fortified warankashi samples. It was observed that total phenols, DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), FRAP (Ferric Reducing-Antioxidant Power) and flavonoid compounds significantly decreased under storage at ambient conditions. Results revealed that warankashi fortified with up to 7.5% cocoa powder could have a reduced microbial load when compared with unfortified warankashi. The study also showed that warankashi with up to 2.5% cocoa powder can compete favorably with its counterpart produced with 100% milk. It is therefore concluded that fortification of warankashi with cocoa powder can improve its nutritional quality, antioxidant potentials as well as the storage stability of warankashi, while inclusion of 2.5% cocoa powder can improve its sensory attributes.