Noah A. A. & Ajibode, O. O

Snack foods are inexpensive, easy to prepare, and widely accessible in public places including streets, shops, and schools. The main goal of the study was to determine the effects of coating peanut with composite flour of wheat, sorghum and date syrup on the proximate composition, mineral content, and sensory qualities of the peanut snacks. The formulations of the mixes used to make the coated peanuts were 90: 0: 10%, 80: 10: 10%, 70: 20: 10%, 60: 30: 10%, and 50: 40: 10% (wheat flour, sorghum flour, and date syrup respectively). The moisture, ash, fat, crude fiber, crude protein, and carbohydrate content of the coated peanut ranged from 3.51 to 5.30%, 3.37 to 5.28%, 18.13 to 29.64%, 4.14 to 5.88%, 24.90 to 32.48%, and 23.19 to 44.15% respectively. As the addition of sorghum flour and date syrup increased, the protein, crude fiber, and carbohydrate contents of the coated peanuts increased, but the moisture, lipids, and ash contents decreased. Increased in sorghum flour and date syrup also resulted into increased in potassium, phosphorus, iron, and magnesium content of the coated peanut snacks. For sensory analysis, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the peanut samples in terms of color, appearance, taste, aroma, crunchiness, overall acceptability, and willingness to buy. The 80:10:10 blend gave coated peanuts that were the most preferred for all the parameters. The coated of peanuts with wheat flour, sorghum flour and date palm increased the nutritional and sensory quality of the product. Keywords: Peanuts; snacks; proximate composition; date palm syrup 0150