Proximate composition and selected functional properties of African breadfruit and sweet potato flour blends

Full-fat African breadfruit flour was used to replace 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70% of sweet potato flour. The chemical composition and functional properties of composite flours showed that they contain more protein, fat, and ash and less carbohydrate than sweet potato flour. With increasing level of supplementation of breadfruit, ash, protein and fat contents increased while carbohydrate decreased. The composite flours possessed higher water absorption than sweet potato flour. The water absorption capacity increased from 20% for sweet potato flour to the range of 85-120% for composite flours. The oil absorption capacities for some composite flours were higher than that for sweet potato but less than that of breadfruit. Composite flours had good foaming capacity but lacked foaming stability. The bulk density of the composite flours was found to be low which will be an advantage in the preparation of weaning food formulations.