Effects of Three Selected Spices: Alligator Pepper, Cloves and Ginger on the Quality Attributes of Kunun-Zaki

Additives used in food processing can be natural or synthetic in nature. The use of natural additives in food processing has been encouraged due to the health hazards, non-nutritiveness and high cost usually associated with their synthetic counterparts. The study was carried out to determine the Effects of Three Selected Alligator Pepper, Cloves and Ginger on the Quality Attributes of Kunnu-Zaki in order to encourage the use of natural additives and to establish their best concentrations for the production of kunnu–zaki. Kunnu is a product of fermentation of malted grains of Sorghum and millet, used singly or in composite form and is one of the most highly consumed cereal-based non-alcoholic, non-carbonated beverages in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out to carry out the chemical, nutritional and microbiological analysis on the produced Kunnun-zaki samples, perform sensory evaluation on the produced Kunnun-zaki samples and establish the best concentration of the spices that can give the best quality. Investigation reveals that Kunnu drink is harmful, which arises mainly from the contamination that occurs at the point of production and from poor handling, and the bottles used to package Kunnu may also not be very clean and unhealthy. Kunnun drink helps lower blood sugar and control blood glucose in persons living with diabetes. It does this by stimulating the pancreas to produce a reasonable amount of insulin, and it is also beneficial for women that have reached the stage of menopause as it helps them relax their muscles. This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.