INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF MATURITY ON PASTING PROPERTIES OF Matooke (Musa sp, AAA-EAHB)

Banana is an important crop in Uganda where it serves as both as a source of food security and household income. The most predominant bananas in Uganda are the East African highland bananas (AAAB-EAHB), locally known as matooke.Flour processed from matooke has good properties including among others: more than 80% starch content (db), which starch has good functional properties for confectionary and bakery products, as well as being gluten free. Matooke to be used for food are harvested at various stages of maturity, thus the stage of maturity has little effect on the food prepared as long as the sweetness due to ripening has not manifested yet. However, this may not be the case when harvesting matooke to process flour and therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of maturity on the pasting properties of matooke flour. Pasting properties of flour are important in a sense that they give an indication of the cooking and baking qualities of the flour, which are critical fictional properties in baking, confectionery and in pharmaceutical industry as a binder. The results showed that maturity had a significant effect on the matooke flour pasting properties. The flour from matooke harvested at 12–14 weeks had the highest average final viscosity (345.68 RVU) and highest average peak viscosity (445.3 RVU), which maturity range represented the completion of the starch deposition. The flour from matooke harvested at 15–21 weeks had a relatively lower average final viscosity (287.65 RVU) and a relatively lower average peak viscosity of (405.9 RVU) indicating that reduction in the starch content of the matooke had commenced. However, the pasting properties of the matooke flour at this range of maturity were similar despite the broad range of the period.