EFFECT OF SOYBEAN VARIETIES AND PROCESSING METHODS ON NUTRITIONAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF SOYMILK

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of soybean varieties and processing methods on the nutritional and sensory properties of soymilk. Three varieties of soybean were sorted, cleaned and soaked to extract soymilk using two different processing methods: Cornell and Illinois. Results showed that the interaction effect of variety and processing methods was highly significant (P<0.01) on the nutritional and sensory attributes of soymilk. The highest value of crude protein (3.48%) was recorded in soymilk produced from Afgat variety with Illinois processing method. In terms of the mineral composition analyzed, soymilk consisted of the highest concentration of iron (1.103mg/100g) while the calcium content was the lowest (0.030mg/100g). The sensory quality of soymilk prepared from Afgat variety with Illinois processing method was consistently superior in terms of flavor and overall acceptability. Thus, it can be concluded that soymilk produced from Afgat variety using Illinois processing method has better nutritional quality and sensory acceptability. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Value addition efforts in respect of using soybean in various food applications are scarce in Ethiopia. This has profoundly hampered wider consumption of the crop in different food applications despite its high potential for food security. There is limited information on processing opportunities to reduce the negative effect of its inherent chemical composition on the acceptability of the crop and varieties with better nutritional quality which can be used in processing of soymilk. The findings of this research revealed that there is significant variation in the physicochemical characteristics of soybean and that has been implicated on the sensory acceptability of soymilk. Therefore, the information gained from this research could be further applied by grass root level, small scale soymilk processors or any soymilk processing industry in selecting soybean variety and processing method to improve the quality of soymilk.