Abstract:
Whole grain sorghum–soya and pearl millet–soya composite biscuits, with and without sourdough, were
produced with the aim of developing a ready-to-eat supplementary food for nutritionally at-risk schoolage
children in Africa. Descriptive sensory profiling revealed that the biscuits were indistinguishable from
a whole grain wheat biscuit standard in terms of hardness, roughness and coarseness, but they were darker,
less crisp, less dry and denser with distinctive sorghum flavour. Biscuits containing sourdough were
sourer to taste and had more aroma and a more fermented taste and odour character; other examples
were more rancid and bitter with less sorghum-type flavour. Biscuits without sourdough were blander and
sweeter. Two biscuits per day will, on average, contribute 13% of the Dietary Reference Intake of fibre
for children aged 4–8 years and 16%, 11% and 8% of Mg, Fe and Zn, respectively. The sourdough biscuits
had 10–17% less phytate, and phenolic content while antioxidant activity increased.
