Proximate Analysis of Gluten-Free Milk Boosting Cookies Made from Banana Flower (Musa paradisiaca)

Banana flower is one of the most popular vegetables consumed by traditional mothers in Malaysia to increase their milk production due its milk-boosting effect (the galactagogue effect). The bland taste of the banana flower extract and the consumers unacceptance has led to the development of milk-boosting cookies. The optimization of banana flower-based lactation cookies’ formulation was made by the selection of three different types of flours, namely tapioca, rice and potato starch flours. The banana flower from Musa paradisiaca was used as a main ingredient. The nutritional content (ash, moisture, protein, fat, crude fibre, carbohydrate and calories) of the formulated cookies were analysed through a proximate analysis based on AOAC standard methods ( dry ashing, hot air-oven drying, Kjeldahl nitrogen digestion, Weende method, Soxhlet-extraction and using respective formulations, respectively). Results showed that the banana flower cookies made from rice flour had the highest nutritional content especially in protein, fat and calories that suitable for lactating mothers (12.29%, 54.14%, and 54.03 kcal, respectively)(p