Evaluating the quality characteristics of kunun produced from dry-milled sorghum

Kunun is a traditional beverage in Nigeria produced by wet milling from sorghum, maize or millet. This work evaluates kunun produced from dry-milled sorghum flour. The sorghum was dehulled, milled and sieved to obtain flour. The flour was steeped for 24 h and mixed with spices to produce kunun and the quality of the resultant kunun was compared with that of kunun manufactured by the wet-milling process. With dry-milling process, the yield of kunun was 80% while the yield from the wet-milling process was 60%. Titratable acidity was lower in kunun samples prepared from dry-milled sorghum (0.40%) than in the kunun manufactured by wet milling (0.55%). The pH and total soluble solid of kunun prepared from dry milled sorghum were higher (5.10 and 14.82, respectively) than kunun from wet milling process (4.12 and 13.42, respectively). Protein content recorded for dry milled sample was 5.55% and that of wet milled sample was 4.20%. Crude fibre content was also assessed to be 0.25% for dry milled sample and 0.45% for wet milled sample. Kunun samples from wet milling process were preferred to those from dry milling process. Microbial counts indicate that both samples were free from feacal contamination. Total viable count for kunun samples prepared from dry milling process was 1.0 x 10(4), and for wet milled sample total viable count was 1.6 x 10(4).