Using Food Grade Lye “omushelekha” in the Formulation of Health Products from Commonly Consumed African Indigenous Vegetables and Vegetable Combinations | Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer Open Menu Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Home Food Science Publisher Functional Food Center Current Archives About About the Journal Aims and Scope Contact Editing Services Editorial Team Express Peer Review Graphical Abstract Journal Insights Privacy Statement Submissions Announcements Search Search Register Login Home / Archives / Vol. 1 No. 5 (2011): May 2011 / Research Articles Using Food Grade Lye “omushelekha” in the Formulation of Health Products from Commonly Consumed African Indigenous Vegetables and Vegetable Combinations Authors Mary K. Walingo School of Public Health and Community, Maseno University, Box 333, Maseno Florence O. Habwe School of Public Health and Community, Maseno University, Box 333, Maseno DOI: https://doi.org/10.31989/ffhd.v1i5.131 Abstract Background: Lye, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide has been used over the years in food preparation including the preparation of vegetables and dried meat products, washing or chemical peeling of fruits and vegetables, cocoa processing, caramel production, poultry scalding and cooking among others. Lye is believed to improve the organoleptic properties and also enhances the nutritional value to the products. Objective: To assess the effect of food grade lye on the levels of copper and iron in the raw, boiled and boiled-fried single vegetables and vegetable combinations treated with and without food grade lye. Methods: Single vegetables, Crotalaria occroleuca, Solanum scabrum, Vigna unguiculata and Amaranthus blitum and their combinations were cooled and kept in the fridge at 4oCs. Elemental analysis was done for the raw, boiled and boiled-fried samples using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) under standard conditions using wavelengths of 248.3nm for iron and 324.2nm for copper. Paired t-test was used to compare the iron and copper levels of the boiled and boiled-fried vegetables while the independent t-test was done to assess the levels of iron and copper in the raw, boiled and boiled fried samples. Results: Boiled-fried samples recorded higher content of iron and copper than the boiled ones. A combination of Amaranthus blitum-Crotolaria occloreuca boiled without lye boiled-fried with lye, and boiled-fried without lye had the highest copper contents of 1.66mg/100gram, 4.56mg/100gram, and 4.56mg/100gram respectively, compared to Amaranthus blitum alone (3.48mg/100gram) and Crotolaria occloreuca (0.42mg/100gram). A combination of Amaranthus blitum-Crotolaria occloreuca boiled in non-lye water, and those boiled-fried with and without lye had the highest extractable iron of 557mg/100g, 859.2mg/100g, and 859.2mg/100g respectively. Iron content was high in the Solanum scabrum (281.1mg/100g), and Crotolaria occloreuca (110/100g), Amaranthus blitum (108mg/100g) boiled-fried with lye. It was possible that iron was leached from the cooking utensils and absorbed by the vegetables. Conclusion: The results of this study clearly demonstrated that vegetable combinations of Amaranthus blitum-Crotolaria occloreuca had a higher content of copper. Vegetable combinations exposed to different treatments had higher levels of iron and copper. This could be attributed different nutrient-nutrient interactions between different vegetables combinations. Key Words: Food grade lye, Crotalaria occroleuca, Solanum scabrum, Vigna unguiculata, Amaranthus blitum, iron, copper. Downloads [Abstract] [Full Article] Published 2011-05-24 Issue Vol. 1 No. 5 (2011): May 2011 Section Research Articles License Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors may post and share their published work freely, provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged. 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