The consumption of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal contributes significantly to the dietary intake of a number of nutrients. However the knowledge of the mineral content of such breakfast cereal is limited. The present study was aimed to evaluate the proximate, mineral and sensory characteristics of the new granola products. Six different ready-to-eat breakfast cereals were produced from different locally available and cheap cereal grains such as maize (white, yellow and popping corn varieties), guinea corn and millet. Oat was used as control and samples were analyzed using standard methods. Sensory analysis showed that there was significant difference in their color, taste, texture and overall acceptability, while flavor showed no significant difference (p≥0.05) in all the samples. Oat based granola (control) had the highest values for fat, protein and energy which were significantly different from the other samples, but however lower in moisture content, fiber and total available carbohydrate. Yellow maize granola had the lowest protein content as well as the highest value for carbohydrate with the control showing the reverse trend. The result also showed that the control sample A, had the lowest value for fiber and the highest energy while the white maize granola which had the highest fiber had the least energy in kcal/g. A total of eight essential minerals associated with cereal grains were evaluated, namely calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, iron copper and zinc. The yellow maize granola (sample C) was significantly high (p≤0.05) in calcium, iron and copper but low in magnesium, sodium and zinc, while the millet based granola (sample F) was significantly (p≤0.05) high in potassium and zinc. Magnesium and phosphorus were highest in the guinea corn based granola (sample E). The ready to eat breakfast granola have shown from the study to contribute significant amount per/100g of consumption of the important minerals particularly iron and magnesium. This study also showed that the production of granola from other locally available grains gave acceptable products without altering its properties.
Keywords: Cereals, Composition, Sensory Properties, breakfast, granola, mineral elements
