Production and Sensory Evaluation of Mixed Spices from Selected Local Spices Retailed in Ede, Nigeria.

Spices are essential group of agricultural products used to enrich taste and enhance nutritional contents of foods and beverages. Spices for various types of food were produced naturally from local available plant materials which have been used since the Middle Ages for flavoring, food additives and preservation, supplement, and/or medicinal purposes. Six spices, namely, Capsicum annuum (yellow pepper), Piper nigrum (black pepper), Zingiber officinale (ginger), Ocimum gratssimum (scent leaf), castor seed (ogiri), and Murraya koenigii (curry leaf), were selected in their natural forms for the production single spices and mixed spices. These spices were used to determine sensory evaluation on suggested staple food like rice, spaghetti, and Indomie pasta, on a nine-point hedonic scale comprising of taste, texture, aroma, saltiness, mouthfeel, and general acceptability. The results for the sensory evaluation for single and mixed spices were tabulated with value range from least to highest and showed that the mixed spice combinations were preferred to the single spice.