THE POTENTIAL OF BAMBARA GROUNDNUT (VIGNA-SUBTERRANEA) IN VEGETABLE MILK-PRODUCTION AND BASIC-PROTEIN FUNCTIONALITY SYSTEMS

Bambara groundnut is an underutilized African legume which provides se curity for many farmers as it shows considerable drought resistance. T he possibility of producing a vegetable milk for local use or an extra cted protein with functional properties for use in food processing app lications was studied. Milks were made by soaking bambara groundnut ov ernight, homogenizing and removing insoluble material to give a milky liquid. The beany taste could be removed by dry-frying the beans after soaking but before homogenization. Milks produced in this way were pr eferred by the taste panel (composed largely of Africans). A compariso n of bambara groundnut milk and milks prepared from cowpea, pigeonpea and soybean was made using sensory and instrumental analysis. Sensory analysis showed all milks were acceptable with bambara groundnut ranke d first in the preference trial. The lighter colour of bambara groundn ut milk was more acceptable to the taste panel but there was no correl ation between viscosity measured on a viscometer and viscosity perceiv ed by the taste panel. A crude protein isolate (76% protein) from bamb ara groundnut was subjected to standard protein functionality tests bu t it was inferior to the standard used (egg albumen and soy isolate). It did not show any useful properties in emulsification. foam stabiliz ation, or gelation or in a model cake system.