Organoleptic Analysis of Pounded Yam Prepared from a Yam Pounder Designed and Fabricated in Nigeria

A delicacy eaten by Nigerians is pounded yam eaten with any form of soup. It is prepared manually by pounding yam and cocoyam with mortar and pestle. It takes 30-45 mins to plan. Efforts are directed towards reducing the heavy pressure on the preparation of the pounded yam. The design and manufacture of pounding machines by the Department of Engineering, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Nigeria, is one of the efforts. The object of this research was to conduct an organoleptic analysis of the pounded yam developed from the manufactured machine. In order to assess the organoleptic analysis of pounded yam in terms of appearance, taste, color, odor and texture, a ten-man panelist was used. A quality class of 22.6-25.0 (excellent), 20.2-22.5 (good), 18.2-20.1 (satisfactory), 16.2-18.1 (less satisfactory) and <15.2.5 (less satisfactory) were scored by the panelists (unsatisfactory). Sensory characteristics were also graded as 1= unsatisfactory, 2= less satisfying, 3= satisfactory, 4= good, and 5= excellent. The findings showed that the mean results were 4.55, 4.43, 4.15, 4.32, and 4.08 respectively for color, colour, odour, taste, and texture. Variation coefficients (per cent) were 16.89, 17.80, 21.65, 15.67, and 24.40. The skewness of the parameters was negative, although its Kurtosis has only odor in negative form (-0.37). The presence (19-24 percent) of all samples was ranked high above all other parameters by all the panelists. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Principal Component Analysis revealed the parameter relationships. In conclusion, the machine pounded with yam was scored above satisfactory, which means that the machine produced was effective.