This paper seeks to demonstrate that the nutritional composition of bambara groundnut (BG) seeds can be influenced when subjected to three traditional processing methods (i.e. fermentation, roasting, and germination).
Proximate, minerals, amino acids and antinutritional factors of each of the processed food samples were investigated using AOAC methods. The results of the study were as follows: For the proximate analysis, moisture content ranged between: 1.50‐2.16 g/100 g; fat 6.02‐6.57 g/100 g; protein 20.00‐20.49 g/100 g; ash 1.17‐3.46 g/100 g; carbohydrate 65.82‐68.74 g/100 g and energy 400.2‐412.18kcal. For the minerals composition, calcium ranged between 14.12± 0.01‐18.26±0.01 mg/100 g, potassium 57.61±0.01‐80.62±0.02 mg/100 g, magnesium 50.47± 0.01‐69.34±0.02 mg/100 g, sodium 19.05±0.01‐25.97±0.01 mg/100 g, iron 0.15±0.01‐0.48± 0.01 mg/100 g, selenium 0.00±0.00‐0.21±0.01 mg/100 g and phosphorus 164.73±0.01‐187.13± 0.01 mg/100 g, while the Ca/P and Na/K ratios of the food samples range between 0.10±0.01‐0.19±0.01 and 0.30±0.01‐0.35±0.01 respectively. The total amino acid and percentage of total essential amino acid for children and adults were higher in germinated BG seed flour than fermented and roasted BG flour respectively.
The findings were that the antinutritional content of fermented bambara groundnut seed flour was low compared with germinated and roasted bambara groundnut seed flour.
The protein content of fermented bambara groundnut flour was higher and also had a low level of antinutritional factors compared with other processed bambara groundnut flour. In view of these, further study may be conducted to establish the suitability of incorporating the fermented bambara groundnut flour into weaning food.
The study showed that these traditional processing methods, that is, fermentation, germination and roasting, influenced the nutritional composition of bambara groundnut seeds.
