Optimization of a taro (Colocasia Esculenta L.) for cookies / Venus B. Andres, Ivie Faith C. Guillermo

UTHESIS (Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering)

Bibliography: leaves 52-56

In Solsona, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, taro (Colocasia esculenta L.), a tropical root crop with nutritional and anti-cancer characteristics, is neglected despite its potential. To maximize the use of taro corms in cookie production, this study investigated the effect of using 100% taro flour on the physical, nutritional, and sensory elements of the finished product. An automated multi-commodity heat pump dryer was used to establish drying characteristics, measured the enthalpy, water activity, moisture reduction during the drying process, and identified the species of taro in used in the study. The fresh taro corm had a moisture content of 70.65%, which was reduced to an average of 5.30% after 24 hours which was pulverized and used as flour ingredient for cookie making. The drying process began at 41°C and 34.28% relative humidity, eventually reaching 66°C and 8.04%, respectively. The water activity was 0.0804, implying no growth of bacteria, while the moisture reduction rate was 0.57 g/hr. The enthalpy values decreased from 3.584 KJ/kg to 1.567 KJ/kg by the 19th hour, then stabilized at 1.907 KJ/kg by the 24th hour, with an average of 2.438 KJ/kg. This explains that lower values of different enthalpy indicate that a lower energy is required for the process to occur. Taro cookies were sensory evaluated using a Hedonic Scale among 90 participants and found to be highly acceptable, with scores of 7.23 for appearance, 8.03 for flavor, 7.47 for texture, and 8.02 for overall liking. Nutritional analysis found large levels of vitamins A and C. However, saturated fat content limits the consumers to only consume up to five pieces of taro cookie per day. Hence, it is recommended to optimize a different cookie recipe with a lower saturated fat.