Effect of Harvesting Stages of Maize on Quality and Consumption Preferences of Tengma

Kinley Wangmo

ABSTRACT

Local cornflake or beaten maize known in the eastern Bhutan as Tengma is one of the most popular processed maize products in Bhutan. The colour, taste and texture are important quality attributes of Tengma, which are influenced by harvesting stage of maize. This study on colour, taste, texture and the general quality acceptability of Tengma was conducted to identify optimal harvesting stage of maize for processing Tengma. The study was conducted at Thridangbi Chewog under Saling geog, Mongar Dzongkhag. Maize harvested at milk, dough, dent and physiologically matured as well as maize from previous season were collected from Agriculture Research sub-center, Lingmethang and were processed using farmer’s cornflake machine following local processing method. Colour, taste, texture and overall acceptability were done by 30 panelists representing various sectors while total soluble solids (TSS), moisture content (MC) and weight were recorded using refractometer, moisture meter and weighing scale, respectively. The results indicate MC and TSS were significantly higher (p≤0.05) in Tengma processed from maize grains harvested at milk stage (MS). Tengma processed with maize grains harvested at dent stage scored the highest “extremely like” of 47% in terms of color. In terms of taste and texture, Tengma processed using maize grains harvested at milk and dough stage scored the highest “extremely like” and “like” rating of 90% to 97% each. In overall acceptability category, Tengma processed using maize grains harvested at MS and from the previous season  had the highest “extremely like” or “like” score of 100% and “extremely dislike” score of 25%, respectively.

Keywords: Colour, Moisture content, Physiologically matured, Taste, Texture and total soluble solid

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