Study on supplementation of ‘ogi’ with oyster mushroom flour (Pleurotus ostreatus)

Abstract

Fermented cereal gruel popularly called ‘Ogi’ in Yoruba dialect is a staple food in Nigeria. It is estimated that about 150 million people consume it in West Africa despite its nutritional deficit.1 It is easy to prepare and serves as infant weaning food, breakfast for school pupils and convenient food for the aged adults. ‘Ogi’ can be prepared in various ways such as hot liquid smooth gel called ‘eko’ in ‘Yoruba’ which can be consumed with sugar, honey, and groundnut and bean cake. It can also be boiled into thick paste which when it is cool becomes solid called ‘eko agidi’. This can then be consumed with soup or bean cake (‘moinmoin’ or ‘akara’). Major raw materials for ‘ogi’ preparation are maize, sorghum or millet. The raw materials used determine the colour of ‘ogi’ produced. The production processes involve cleaning, steeping in warm water for 2-5 days to softening the kernels and fermentation process; the fermented maize is wet milled, sieved with muslin cloth and allowed to settle. The process of settling down of ‘ogi’ particles leads to substantive second fermentation process. The longer the ‘ogi’ is left in water, the sourer it becomes, and it can be preserved in this form for more than six months provided the supernatant water of the slurry are changed every three day. Other methods of preservation are by drying and packaged as flour.