Author(s)

B. A. Akinwande & A. O. Abegunde

Abstract

Soups have ingredients that are similar to Paleolithic diets. They have potential to provide high unsaturated fatty acids, high ω 3/ω 6 ratio of fatty acids, fiber, phytochemical and proteins. Mushroom with its array of health benefits is underutilized in developing countries like Nigeria. In order to popularize and promote its consumption, this research work looked into the possibility of replacing meats with mushroom in pepper soup for enhanced nutrition. Nigerian Pepper soup was prepared with mushroom, beef and turkey. Seasoning and spices were added and the soups were subjected to proximate analysis (on a wet basis) and sensory evaluation using a preference test. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the proximate composition of the three samples. Crude protein content of chicken pepper soup was highest with a value of 5.20% and was followed by 3.43% in mushroom pepper soup. The least value of 2.57% was obtained in beef soup, while turkey soup had the highest content of crude fat (8.71%), and mushroom soup recorded with least amount of 1.18%. On the other hand, crude fiber content was highest (5.64%) in mushroom soup while the least value of 0.79% was obtained in beef soup. Although the sensory evaluation result showed that the quality attributes of colour, taste, chewiness and tenderness were most preferred in chicken pepper soup, there was no significant difference between it and mushroom soup in all the quality attributes, including aroma and pungency. The use of mushroom could be encouraged to replace meats in the preparation of pepper soup to serve as an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern, which could help to fight diseases related to chronic inflammation, including metabolic syndrome. Keywords: mushroom, turkey, beef, pepper soup, spice-mix, proximate composition, sensory evaluation, health benefits.

Keywords

Keywords: mushroom, turkey, beef, pepper soup, spice-mix, proximatecomposition, sensory evaluation, health benefits.