Physico-chemical and sensory properties of cereal/legume-substituted cocoa-based beverage

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a cereal/legume-substituted cocoa-based beverage using cocoa powder, malted sorghum flour, soybean flour and defatted melon seed flour and to evaluate their physico-chemical, nutritional and sensory properties. Design/methodology/approach - Malted sorghum was prepared; flours of soybean and defatted melon were also prepared separately. Two samples were formulated, the first formulation tagged CPM1 contained 60, 10, 20 and 10 per cent of cocoa powder, malted sorghum, soybean flour and melon flour, respectively, and the second sample tagged CPM2 contained 65, 05, 20 and 10 per cent of cocoa powder, malted sorghum, soybean flour and melon flour, respectively. A commercial product (Noble Vita) was purchased from local market as reference sample. Findings - Protein contents of formulated samples (16.93 and10.58 per cent for samples CPM1 and CPM2, respectively) are higher than that of the Noble Vita (6.35 per cent). The vitamin C content of the formulated samples was found to be 13.38 and 13.50 mg/100 g, an improvement from that of the reference sample ( 6.13 mg/100 g). Significant difference exists in the overall acceptability between the formulated samples and the reference sample (p < 0.05), and the formulated samples were more acceptable. Originality/value - Formulated samples are nutritionally richer than the reference sample and that they are capable of supplying limiting nutrients in the diet of majority in the developing countries.