The utilization of cassava powder as blended materials for food dishes and cookies

Previous trial showed that cassava powder could be processed into food dishes, cakes and cookies. But, the performance, nutritive value and kinds of the products were still needed to be improved. Therefore, a research was carried out to study the processing of dry food dishes which the raw materials could be replaced by cassava powder, and to increase the nutritive value of the cookies (which uses blended cassava powder and wheat flour) by using composite flours of sweet potato and mungbean. The trial was conducted in the RILET Postharvest Laboratory from November 1996 to August 1997. Cassava clone of 10004 was processed into powder, while mungbean grain (Merak variety) and sweet potato roots (Senduro variety) were processed into flours. There were 2 activities in this trial. The first was food dishes making (serundeng and sambal poyah) with 4 levels replacement of grated coconut with cassava powder (0, 25, 50 and 75 percent). The RCD was used with 3 replications. The second activity was cookies making with 5 levels of composite flours (wheat, sweet potato and mungbean) ratio, viz: 100:0:0; 50:30:20; 50:10:40 and 50:0:50 which also used RCD with 3 replications. Observation was conducted on chemical composition, sensory evaluation and processing cost of the products. The results showed that protein content of the serundeng and sambal poyah decreased as the cassava powder proportion increased, while the carbohydrate content increased. Sensory evaluation showed that the appearance and aroma of serundeng which used blended of 75 percent grated coconut and 25 percent cassava powder was accepted by the panelists. The taste was also accepted, although it did not raise the same score as the control did (100 percent grated coconut). The cost of the treatment was cheaper (Rp 3.7/g) than control (Rp 4.5/g), although it needed 25 percent additional spices. On the other hand, 50 percent of cassava powder used in sambal poyah making was the most preferred by the panelists based on the appearance, aroma and taste attributes, even more accepted than control. Its cost was also much cheaper (Rp 2.6/g) than control (Rp 4.9/g), although it needed 50 percent more spices. For the cookies making, panelists preferred the treatment of blended 50 percent wheat flour, 10 percent sweet potato flour and 40 percent mungbean flour. Its protein content was higher (6.92 percent db) compared to 100 percent wheat flour (4.99 percent db). As the consequence of using mungbean flour, the processing cost was higher (Rp 2,312/recipe) than control (Rp 2,245/recipe) at the same level of recovery (90.1 percent and 90.7 percent respectively). It was concluded that cassava powder has good prospects to be used in the development of food dishes and cookies processing