Chemical Composition, Resistant, Total Starch Content and Acceptability of Noodle Substituted with Cowpea Starch

This study is aimed at the potential use of cowpea starch (CS) as resistant starch in the production of noodle as a functional food and its overall  acceptability. Alkaline noodle was prepared from a mixture of 100% wheat flour and varying substitution of wheat flour (2, 4% and 6%) with cowpea  starch (CS). Chemical analysis indicated that the addition of CS to wheat flour resulted in an increase in the total and resistant starch content of the noodle with increasing level of CS substitution. The total starch content of noodles ranged from 60.5 to 66.35% while the resistant starch content  ranged from 2.00 to 2.40%. The loose bulk density, packed bulk density and water absorption index significantly increased (p< 0.05) with increases in the addition of cowpea starch. Noodles with 2% inclusion had the highest breakability and overall acceptability. The findings in this study showed  that the possibility of increasing the resistant starch content of instant  noodle using CS could be a potential raw material in the production of  instant noodles as a functional food