Production And Determination Of Functional Properties Of Plantain Flour

CHAPTER ONE
1.0       INTRODUCTION
Plantain is a common name for a herbaceous plants of the genus Dusa, it was classified formally as Musa Acuminata, Musa Balbisoana or Hybrids Musa Acuminataz Balbisoana depending on their genomic constitution.  (balell John in 2000) gare the archaic scientific name Musa paradisiacal which is no longer used,.  Most plantain come from the hybrid AAB and ABB cultirar group all members of the genus.  Musa are indigenous to tropical regions of South east Asia and Oceania including the making Archipelago. (Brian and Allan 1985).
Plantains are a major staple food in equantoria Africa and andian region.  Their attractiveness as food is that they fruit all year round making them more reliable all season.  This is particularly important for communities living in mountains or forests with Inadequate food storage, preservation and transportation, this tends to be frimer and lower in sugar content than desert, plantains are cooked or otherwise processed and are used either when green or unripe land therefore starchy or overripe and therefore sweet (William 1979) stated that an average plantain has about 220 calories and is a good source of poxassium and dietary fibre.  (Murray Tossler 1987).
Plantains is a perennial plant that consist of a roseete of basal leaves and one or more flowering stalks the basal leaves are up to “10 long and ¾ across”, “but more commonly about half this size the tenth most important staple food that feed the world. (Uwaegbufe 1996) plantains are treated in much as the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when this unripe fruit is looked by steaming boiling or trying.  It (plantain) fruits all year round which making the crop a reliable all season  staple, food, particularly in developing countries with inadequate food storage, preservation and transportation technologies, in Africa plantains provide more than 25 percent of the carbohydrate requirement for over 70 million people.  Plantain can be eaten raw as well.  As it ripen it becomes sweeter and changes colour from green to yellow to black, green plantain are firm and starchy and they resemble potatoes in flavour.  UNCST 2007) the yellow plantains are softer and starchy, but sweet.  Extremely ripe plantains have softer deep yellow pulp that is much sweeter than the earlier stages of ripeness. (Archy 1987).