Organoleptic properties and perception of maize, African yam bean, and defatted coconut flour‐based breakfast cereals served in conventional forms

Breakfast cereals were produced by roasting (t = 280°C) – a dry heat treatment process to gelatinize and semidextrinize the starch – in order to generate dry ready‐to‐eat products from blends of African yam bean (AYB), maize (M), and defatted coconut (DC) flour. Six samples were generated by mixing AYB and maize composite flour with graded levels of DC flour (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%) to obtain the following ratios; 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50 that were added equal quantities of sugar, salt, sorghum malt extract, and water. The obtained products were served dry (without added fluid), with water, milk, and warm milk to 15 panelists along with Weetabix Original (commercial control) to evaluate color, consistency, flavor, taste, aftertaste, mouth feel, and overall acceptability using a nine‐point hedonic scale (1 = dislike extremely, 9 = like extremely). The results revealed that the samples were acceptable to the panelists. There were no significant (P > 0.05) differences, between the control (Weetabix) and the formulated samples in terms of overall acceptability, when served with water, whereas significant differences (P < 0.05) existed when served dry, with milk or warm milk. This new roasting process for producing breakfast cereals offers huge potentials for production of acceptable breakfast cereals enriched with protein and fiber‐rich sources that could be consumed dry, with water, milk, or warm milk.