FUFU

Fufu is a traditionally fermented wet paste and a staple food widely consumed by a large part of the populace in Nigeria.

This implies that by enhancing the nutritional properties of fufu as well as increasing its shelf-life, the nutrient requirements of these large populace that consume fufu without necessarily changing their already established eating culture will be met
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Originally, cassava is the major raw material used for the processing of fufu ball, however, cassava is almost over utilized and thus giving rise to need for replacement or supplementation in the quantity used for fufu production.

Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world population. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). It is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. Rice can be locally sourced and will not pose a problem to obtain when required. As a result of oversupplied (importation) and overstocked rice, the domestic market price of rice has gone down to make rice-growing farmers suffer their decreased income which is largely due to excessive importation of rice which the government has since moved to stop, this gave rise to a need to increase the amount of rice used as raw ingredient in rice based foods thereby calling for the development of various new rice-based processed foods and their commercial manufacturing technology. Raw rice may be ground into flour for many uses, including making many kinds of beverages, such as amazake, horchata, rice milk, and rice wine or as in the case of this study as rice flour based fufu.

Rice flour is rich in carbohydrate (starch) and could easily gelatinize on reconstitution with hot water to form a ready to eat fufu ball. With these qualities rice could come in handy as a good replacement for cassava in the production of fufu.

Considering that the problem of malnutrition in Nigeria is mainly due to deficiencies in protein, vitamins and minerals. The use of an inexpensive high protein and micronutrient food source such as Bambara nut to increase the protein content, vitamins, minerals and other macronutrients as well as micronutrients of the staple foods such as rice flour based fufu becomes necessary.

Legume seeds are the most important sources of macronutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates and dietary fibre, in the diet of many populations, especially in developing countries. One of these legumes is the Bambara nut (Vigna subterranea). its name is derived from the name of a Mali tribe called “Bambara”. The bambara nut, or round beans, is widespread in Africa although it is still under-utilized, it is known by various names, according to different local language: for instance, among the Igbo tribes of Nigeria, it is commonly named ‘’Okpa’’, while in literature the name bambara nut is preferred. This bean is related to cowpeas and it is botanically known as Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc., a member of the Fabaceae family.  The enrichment of rice flour based fufu with Bambara nut would go a long way to increase its utilisation and popularity.

This study will therefore have a broad objective which will be to develop a process suitable for the production of rice flour based fufu adequately fortified with Bambara nuts to yield fufu flour with desired proximate and chemical properties as well as micronutrient contents.