Abstract:
Anchote is an indigenous tuber crop found in the Western and South Western part of Ethiopia.
It belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and the Afan Oromo name for Coccinia abyssinica.
Particularly, Anchote is known in Kellem Wollega, Western Wollega, Eastern Wollega, Illu
Abba Boora, and Jimma. Starch can be extracted from anchote tuber by chemical method. This
study investigates the production of starch from anchote tuber which is underutilized crop and
used as indigenous food. The Production of anchote starch from Anchote tuber was done by
different chemical solutions such as sodium chloride, sodium metabisulphite, ammonia with
different concentrations (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) and control with water. The starch was isolated by
cleaning, peeling, cutting into small pieces, wet grinding, filtration, sedimentation, decantation
of the supernatant, drying, and the starch yield was recovered. The maximum yield of the starch
produced was 20.86% fresh weight basis with a 1.5% sodium chloride solution. The optimum
yield of starch was characterized by physicochemical and functional properties. Bulk density,
true density, tapped density, Carr’s index, and Hausner ratio of anchote starch were
0.46,1.5,0.65, 23.97, and 1.32 respectively. The X-ray Diffraction result of the starch had the
strongest sharp peak diffraction pattern at 17.12° of 2θ angle which indicatesthe B-type starch.
The moisture, ash, fat, fiber, protein, total carbohydrate, amylose content, and starch purity
were 12.14%, 0.30%, 0.0%4, 1.64%, 1.66%, 83.82%, 17.42%, and 95.6% respectively. The pH
of the starch was 7.32 which was almost neutral. The functional properties of anchote starch
such as water absorption capacity and oil absorption capacity were 0.17ml/g for both. swelling
power and solubility index of anchote starch with increasing temperatures (30, 50, 70 and
90℃) were respectively (1.90, 2.53, 8.10, and 11.65) and (0.31, 0.9, 4.8, and 15.43%). The
extracted starch was used as a stabilizer in yogurt manufacturing with different proportions
(0.5, 1 and 1.5%). The yogurt produced with 1.5% anchote starch shows good results of pH
and syneresis. The titratable acidity and sensory result showed the best result for yogurt
prepared with 1% and 1.5% anchote starch
