Overview

To develop appropriate technology to increase cowpea processing efficiency and encourage increased utilization among Nigeria’s rural population and urban poor. In the U.S. this research will include assessment of nutritional, functional and microbiological changes in cowpea meal as a result of long-term storage; investigation of the reduction of oligosaccharide content of cowpeas by germination; production of bread-like products by extrusion cooking of cowpea meal; determination of microbial changes of cowpea pastes under conditions of temperature and aeration simulating the Nigerian home and marketplace; development of improved methods in appropriate village-scale technology and evaluation of the hard-to-cook phenomenon. In Nigeria, the research will include installation of a mill to produce cowpea meal/flour; a study of the impact of this mill on the local economy; quality assessment of products and diffusion of project technology will be monitored.