Hydration properties of extruded fura from millet and legumes

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to describe the production of traditional fura and extruded fura blends from 100 per cent pearl millet flour and blends of pearl millet flour with three-grain legume flour mixtures, i.e. cowpea, soybean, and groundnut at 20 and 30 per cent levels each and to evaluate the influence of extrusion process' on products hydration properties. Design/methodology/approach - Traditional methods of flour preparation were adopted. Extrusion was performed in a single-screw Brabender Extruder. Findings - The bulk density of traditional fura significantly differed from those of the extrudates (P < 0.05). Extrudates exhibited instantization tendency, i.e. ability of easy preparation before eating without the usual rigorous labour involved in the traditional method. Pearl millet: cowpea fura (80:20) had the highest puff ratio of 4.71 while the pearl millet: groundnut (70:30) fura had the least puff ratio, 2.90. Samples with high fat content appear to have lower puff ratio. There were no significant differences in the wettabilities of extruded fura samples (P < 0.05) at 28 degrees C with the exception of millet: groundnut (70:30) indicating differences (P < 0.05) in wettabilities at 50 degrees C. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in swelling capacities of fura products at each level of water added. The hydration power of extrudates varied significantly (P < 0.05) for products both at 28 degrees and 50 degrees C; and 100 per cent fura extrudate had the highest hydration power value 63.92 at 28 degrees C, while traditional fura had the least value, 15.80. Originality/value - Extrusion cooking revealed good potential opportunities for the manufacture of commercial instant fura and the potential of better storage as a result of low moisture content.