Development of Instant Ox Tail Soup Supplemented with Mushroom and Moringa Leaves

Background: Food consumption has been changing during the past decade and need for instant formulation is being increased. The potential of growth of convenience foods in Kenya is vastly untapped.

Objective: This study was to develop a dehydrated instant ox tail soup mix supplemented with mushroom and Moringa leaves and other vegetables to enhance its protein quality and reduce the difficulty in preparation of the soup inorder to minimize the problem of protein-energy malnutrition in Kenya.

Methods: After destalking, washing was done. The whole leaves were boiled with 0.1% (v/v) sodium metabi-sulphite for 10 minutes.. The leaves were then spread out on the racks for 15 min. The leaves were then spread thinly on mesh and allowed to dry in the oven dryer for four 4 hours. The dried leaves were ground into powder and packaged in a plastic container and stored at room temperature. Fresh oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostearus (Jacq.) P. Kumm. were cleaned, chopped into small pieces of about 5-7 mm thickness, then pretreated by blanching in water at 60ºC for about 2 minutes, cooked and dried to a moisture content of 5-7%, then dried, sieved and stored in airtight containers. The oxtail was cut into small pieces and soaked in vinegar for 10 minutes this is because vinegar tends to kill salmonella, E coli and other gram-negative bacteria. It was then taken to an oven to dry it further at 70ºC for 48 hours, then ground and packed in airtight container at room temperatures. Tomatoes were cut into slices, cooked, cooled, and the pulp was dried in an oven drier for 3 hours at 60ºC. The dried pulp was ground and packaged in airtight glass containers. Proximate analysis was done according to AOAC methods (2005).

Results: Proximate analysis were as follows: Oyster mushroom powder the fat, ash, protein, , moisture and total carbohydrates were as follows 2.5%, 8.1%, 31.5% 3, 73% and 40.8% respectively on dry weight basis. In the case of Moringa powder the fat, ash, protein, and total carbohydrate results were as follows: 6.3%, 9.5%, 33.4%, and 57.63%.

Ox tail powder the results were as follows fat was 14.6%, ash 5.1%, protein 23.7%, total carbohydrates 36.2% and moisture content 4.72%.

Conclusion: Instant oxtail soup supplemented with mushroom and Moringa Leaves can be developed using Oyster mushroom.