Food Products Prepared in Africa from ICRISAT Mandate Crops and Scope for Improved Utilization

Abstract

The ICRISA T mandate crops, except chickpea, are widely grown and enter into a wide range of traditional food products in Africa. The most common use of grain legumes is in stews, sauces, or thick soups that accompany starchy (cereal and root crop) dishes. Sometimes, either the immature pods are boiled and eaten or the mature seed is boiled along with cereals and other vegetables. They are also soaked and ground into a paste that is either deep-fried in oil or is steam-cooked. Groundnut is eaten raw, boiled, roasted or pounded into butter. The preparation of sorghum-and millet-based products is varied. The products are either alcoholic beverages using malted grain, or numerous nonalcoholic products prepared as thick pastes or thin porridges. Cereal preparations are either lactic-fermented or plain. Some lactic-fermented porridges are baked into thin unleavened bread. There exists an enormous scope for improved utilization of sorghum and millet in place of maize and also for standardization in processing. Composite flours from cereals and legumes can find increased uses in baked and fermented products.