Moutaleb Oumarou Hama, Issoufou Amadou, Cheickna Daou, and Min Zhang

DOI: 10.14456/sjst-psu.2020.87

pp. 688 - 696

Abstract

Response surface methodology was used to optimize the preprocessing and processing parameters to obtain the best
quality of canned cowpeas. The independent variables of central composite rotatable design were sodium hexametaphosphate
[(NaPO₃)₆] concentration, soaking, blanching, and cooking time and temperature, whereas the dependent variables were
hardness, moisture content, leached solid, and splitting seeds. Thus, the 5-factor, 3-level Box–Behnken design was used to
establish the optimum conditions and generate regression quadratic polynomial models. The adequacy of each dependent variable
were significant at P<0.05 with a regression coefficient of R²>0.90, and there was no lack of fit. The sterilization value (F₀) was
determined to evaluate the heat treatment efficiency under the necessary required conditions to obtain a canned cowpeas with
optimum quality characteristics (i.e., soaking time of 12 h, (NaPO₃)₆ concentration of 0.5%, blanching time of 5 min, cooking
time of 15 min, and processing temperature of 110 °C. However, the F₀ value of 1.18 min obtained with canned TN 5-78
cowpeas under the optimum conditions was not sufficient enough to provide commercially stable food.