The Efficiency of ash-based filtrates from banana (matooke) organs for reducing the cooking time of Phaseolus vulgaris ( common beans)

Abstract

Matooke(banana) peel ash filtrate has been used as condiment for a long time by various tribes all around East Africa for cooking traditional dishes. The focus of this study was to find out if other organs of banana (pseudo stem and corm) ash filtrate can efficiently function as the banana peel ash filtrate in reducing cooking time of common beans. And investigate the functional attributes of all the banana organs ash filtrates in relation to the efficiency of magadi and baking soda (positive controls) which are the most commonly used commercial food tenderizers. Volumetric analysis was carried out to determine the bioavailable sodium bicarbonate content in the banana organs ash filtrates and positive controls. The results showed that Matooke peel filtrate had a percentage composition of sodium bicarbonate of 63.2%, corm filtrate: 57.5% and Pseudo stem filtrate: 49.3%, while the positive controls had the highest percentage, with Baking soda:91.8% and magadi: 98.2%. Furthermore, the study revealed that the banana organs ash filtrates were highly alkaline with a PH range above 11, compared to positive controls and water that had PH values below 10. As a result, ccooking time of dry common beans (Nambale Short) was reduced from 165 minutes for beans boiled in distilled water to 90 minutes for beans cooked in Matooke peel filtrate, 97 minutes for beans coked in Pseudo stem filtrate, 104 minutes for the Corm filtrate, 88 minutes for Baking soda and 84 minutes for Magadi. Matooke peel filtrate reduce cooking time almost as fast as the positive controls. Sensory analysis results showed that the beans cooked in Banana organ filtrates filtrate were more desirable in all parameters such as texture, flavor, mouth feel and consistency compared to all the beans cooked with positive controls and water. In a nut shell beans cooked in banana organs ash filtrates especially corm filtrate was more palatable.