Development and Modelling of Value-Added Sesame Seed Candy

Abstract

Sesame seed candy is a cheap traditional snack mostly consumed by children in Nigeria. This research is aimed at developing and characterizing sesame seed candy from sesame seed, cinnamon, ginger, and honey. A four-component constrained D-optimal mixture-process experimental design was employed for the study, and the formulated candies were characterized. The design constraints for the formulation were sesame seed (40–70%), cinnamon (10–30%), ginger (10–30%), and honey (10–30%); while the processing factors were roasting temperature (100–1500C) and roasting time (10–30 mins). Ingredient proportions were found to have significant influences on the quality properties of the candy, with the exception of vitamin C, energy value, color, and crispness (p > 0.05). The crispness model was found insignificant at the 5% level of significance (p˃0.05), while the other quality models are significant (have strong signals) and can be used to make predictions about the quality parameters of sesame seed candy for given levels of each factor (ingredients proportions and process parameters) and also for optimization. The relative impact of the ingredient proportions and process parameters on the quality parameters of the sesame seed candy are given by the models.