Size reduction is very fundamental and crucial to (and enhances subsequent operations in) postharvest processing of raw plantain into storable and value-added products. In Nigeria, research into mechanized processing of raw plantain is mainly driven by plantain’s health benefits, medicinal values, economic values and industrial applications. Thus, demand for plantain and its associated products is rapidly increasing, and needs to be met. Plantain, due to its perishable nature, is usually processed into easy-to-transport, value-added and storable products in order to mitigate its alarming postharvest losses so that it will be readily available all the year round. Being a critical unit process, size reduction role in raw plantain processing can never be overemphasized. There is a need to review, in order to optimize, this unit process as a part of mitigating postharvest food losses, food insecurity and instability of food prices in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Chronicled is the review of researchers’ works on raw plantain size reduction techniques while processing it into chips, flour and other products. It was observed that the reviewed size reducers’ speeds, efficiencies, throughput capacities, percentage of lost materials, and percentage of damaged or out-of-standard materials ranged from 39 to 500 rpm, 36.38% to 98.1%, 20.96 to 1319 kg/h, 1.05% to 47.7%, and 4.37% to 33.78% respectively. Enumerated, are some factors and properties influencing the design of raw plantain size reducers. Basic components of a typical raw plantain size reducer, procedures for developing raw plantain size reducers and some recommendations for further works/research gaps are also presented. Observed and justified, is the need to make size reducers reconfigurable/flexible. A critical look at all the reviewed size reducers shows that some could be merged/modified to produce reconfigurable domestic, commercial or industrial size reducers that would be able to serve in plants that process raw plantain and other crops into chips and flour among other products.

A review of raw plantain size reduction

These samples of &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; were subjected to textural, calorimetric, sensory and biochemical analysis. The results obtained from theImproving the brittle texture and dark colour of plantain &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; is a lever for meeting consumer demands and promoting this met. The aim is therefore to help add value to plantain &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; by improving its texture and clarity. To this end, cassava flour was used as a binding and clarifying agent for plantain &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; at proportions of 0% (FB), 30% (FBM30) and 50% (FBM50), respectively. The &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; was prepared by cooking with water under kneading until the paste was obtained. statistical analyses showed an increase in elasticity (elasticity FB = 7.59 &amp;plusmn; 1.02 mm; elasticity FBM30 = 9.95 &amp;plusmn; 0.12 mm and elasticity FBM50 = 11.71 &amp;plusmn; 0.06 mm) and clarity (L*FB = 40.7&amp;plusmn;0.38; L* FBM30 = 51.23&amp;plusmn;0.66; L* FBM50 = 57.4&amp;plusmn;0.66) in proportion to the addition of cassava flour. Of these three samples, the &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; FBM30 was the most accepted by panellists with a rating of 7 on a scale of 9. This &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; contains 0.81&amp;plusmn;0.11% protein; 0.12&amp;plusmn;0.02% lipid; 0.11&amp;plusmn;0.01% fibre; 0.69&amp;plusmn;0.09% ash; 23.19&amp;plusmn;2.00% carbohydrate and has an energy value of 97.08&amp;plusmn;2.88%. Its potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and iron concentrations are 281.99 &amp;plusmn; 2.26 mg/100g; 85.51 &amp;plusmn; 1.24 mg/100g; 22.90 &amp;plusmn; 0.88 mg/100g; 41.42 &amp;plusmn; 0.48 mg/100g and 1.77 &amp;plusmn; 0.03 mg/100g, respectively. Incorporation of cassava flour improves the texture and colour of plantain &amp;ldquo;konkond&amp;eacute;&amp;rdquo; 

Improving the Physicochemical and Sensory Characteristics of Plantain “Konkondé” towards Adding Value to Traditional Products

The most important factor in food production/processing is safety and quality in terms of hygiene and nutritional value. Processing of unripe plantain into finished product of Amala conventionally is laborious and unhygienic. This project named Design and development of an instant Amala making machine with control system integration was designed and fabricated to make Amala preparation an easy one and remove the fatigue usually experienced during manual preparation. The machine was designed for small scale use and it is capable of processing 15 fingers of unripe plantain pulp for 10 people. It has two compartments; the cooking/pounding and the electric motor/water reservoir. The machine was designed using Solidworks CAD software and computer programming using Micro C. After fabrication, the machine was tested and the result observed from the functional evaluation of the machine, shows that before implementation of control, the time recorded was 58 minutes and after incorporating control, it took 56 minutes, the overall operation time of the machine is lesser when compared to the processing of Unripe plantain into flour. It was observed that both took longer because of the thickness of the pot and the sizes to which each finger was reduced, using a kitchen knife. The machine minimizes human intervention and makes for hygienic processing of Amala. The colour observed from the final product of the operation is light brown which makes it pleasant looking, instead of the darkish brown colour usually observed from plantain flour. Further course of action is recommended as the machine as it is still a prototype.

Design and Development of an Instant Amala Making Machine with Control System Integration

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Design and Development of an Instant Amala Making Machine with Control System Integration