NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF COOKIES MADE FROM WHEAT AND PALM WEEVIL LARVAE FLOUR BLENDS .

The study developed cookies using wheat flour supplemented with varying proportions of palm weevil larvae flour with the view to introducing novel forms of palm weevil larvae consumption as against the usual. The larvae were cleaned, gutted and oven dried before being milled into flour. The palm weevil larvae flour was then mixed with wheat flour in proportions of 10-50% before being made into cookies. The cookies were subjected to proximate content determination and sensory evaluation. Data obtained were analyzed using inferential statistics. Proximate composition values of the cookies increased with increasing levels of palm weevil larvae substitution while consumer acceptability increased with decreasing level of palm weevil larvae substitution. Amongst the blends, cookies containing 10% palm weevil larvae flour had the highest energy content and the protein content also increased by 86.7% as compared with cookies made from 100% wheat flour. The carbohydrate content of the enriched cookies decreased while crude fibre content increased. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in the taste, appearance, texture and overall acceptability of cookies made from 100% wheat flour and 10% palm weevil larvae substitution. The study concluded that wheat flour can be supplemented with at most 10% palm weevil larvae flour to give an enriched snack of good quality and acceptability.