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Corn flour-based porridge like dough, ugali, is the staple food of low-income population in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of vitamin A, carotenoids, and dietary fibers brings about serious health issues to this population. In this study, vegetables including bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, Chinese onion stalk (C_onion), mushroom, are added during the cooking of ugali, as nutritional supplements. The freeze-dried powder of each vegetable was used for its long storage, stable nutrients, and similar particle size. Sub-Saharan African assessors were trained and sensory evaluated the six different vegetable fortified ugali with the plain, unfortified as the control on five attributes. The plain ugali was indistinguishable with the C_onion stalk fortified in color, with the carrot and C_onion stalk fortified in odor, with all vegetables (except broccoli and mushroom) fortified ugali in taste, with carrot and C_onion stalk fortified in granularity, and with cabbage, carrot, C_onion stalk fortified in viscosity. Preference ranking analysis showed that the C_onion stalk fortified ugali is even more favorably preferred than the plain, unfortified ugali, probably due to the umami components in C_onion that serve as the taste enhancer. This study indicates that Chinese onion stalk is a potential vegetable supplement to population in the sub-Saharan Africa.

The study investigated the effect of incorporating whole chia seeds (WCS) and defatted chia seed flour (DCF) into whole maize meal for ugali preparation. Both were incorporated at substitution levels of 3%, 6%, and 9% separately, and the resulting treatments subjected to laboratory analysis. In addition, ugali samples were prepared from all the resulting flour formulations and subjected to consumer acceptability assessment. Incorporation of both DCF and WCS resulted in increased water absorption capacity (ranging from 0.78 to 0.98 g/mL), swelling index (ranging from 0.15 to 3.25 mL/g), and swelling capacity (ranging from 2.46 to 5.74 g/g). WCS decreased the bulk density and oil absorption capacity. DCF, however, resulted in an increase in bulk density and oil absorption capacity. Both DCF and WCS lowered the lightness (L*) of the products. Proximate composition ranged from 4.78 to 7.46% for crude fat, 7.22% to 9.16% for crude protein, and 1.74 to 4.27% for crude fiber. The obtained results show the potential of chia seeds as a good fortificant of maize flour since it resulted in nutritionally superior products (crude ash, crude protein, crude fat, and energy value) when compared to control. The freshly prepared ugali samples were generally acceptable to the panelists up to 9% WCS and 6% DCF substitution levels.

Glycemic index is defined as the incremental area under the blood glucose response curve of a 50 g carbohydrate portion of a test food expressed as a percent of the response to the same amount of carbohydrate from a standard food taken by the same subject. This study investigated glycemic index of maize stiff porridges consumed as staple food in Malawi and a large majority of other countries in sub‐Saharan Africa to identify areas for improvement in consumer diets. Stiff porridges were prepared using flour from whole maize, maize grits, and fermented maize grits. The porridges were served to 11 healthy volunteers for 3 weeks, with two serving sessions a week. Glucose was served as a reference food during weekly serving sessions. Results from descriptive analysis revealed that glycemic responses varied across subjects and porridge types. Porridge prepared from fermented maize grits had moderate glycemic index of 65.49 and was comparable in nutrient composition and sensory characteristics with the other test porridges. Glycemic indices of the porridges prepared from whole maize flour and grits were high at 94.06 and 109.64, respectively, attributed to the effect of traditional maize flour processing, preparation, and cooking methods used. The study also calculated glyaemic load of the porridges and drew recommendations to inform diet planning and modifications for healthy and diabetic individuals. This study investigated glycemic index of maize stiff porridges consumed as staple food in Malawi and a large majority of other countries in sub‐Saharan Africa to identify areas for improvement in consumer diets. Results from descriptive analysis showed that glycemic responses varied across subjects and porridge types. Porridge prepared from fermented maize grits was recommended for the diabetics and general population, having shown moderate glycemic index of 74.90 and comparable nutrient composition and sensory attributes with the other test porridges.

Ugali is a thick porridge that is one of the popular staple foods in East Africa. Traditional methods of ugali preparation, cooking, and consumption are described. Firewood has been used as the primary energy source followed by charcoal. In East Africa, electricity grids have expanded and reached a wider network, which has opened opportunities for electric cooking to domestic consumers, especially in urban that was previously dominated by charcoal, which is in scarce supply due to government regulations on environmental conservation. In this project, the smart ugali cooker was designed and developed to automate the process of cooking ugali in households which is faster, safer, and healthier. The smart Ugali cooker is an automated kitchen appliance designed to boil the mixture of water and maize flour into a dough mixture referred to as ugali. It consists of a driving motor, stirrer, flour dispenser, heat source, a cooking pan, a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the boiling water in the pan, and the control system (Arduino board). The device has basic units that are a dispenser, stirring unit, electronic control unit, pan, and electric heater. These units were fabricated and integrated to form the complete cooking device. Thereafter, the Arduino board was programmed to control the cooking process. Cooking experiments were conducted, on the cooking duration and the texture of ugali based on water to flour ratio. The results showed that ugali was cooked after ten minutes and the quality was good for consumption. In recommendation, the rightful flour to water ratio must be applied to obtain the desired texture of ugali.