Abstract:
A sociological and techno-economic survey of komi
processing was carried out in the Accra-Tema metropolis.
The results indicated that the Komi industry is essentially
controlled by women in their prime of life having very
little or no formal education. Men play a supportive role.
Production is on small-scale and profit margin generally
increases with increase in quantity of maize used per batch
of komi. The industry is heavily dependent on household
hands and locally fabricated and manufactured equipment.
Komi processing is based on traditional technology. Unit
operations identified as critical for the achievement of
good quality Komi are: cleaning of maize, steeping, milling,
moisture content of dough, fermentation, preparation of
glutinous paste, preparation of Aflata, packaging and
boiling. These operations contribute to the development of
desirable chemical, physical and organoleptic
characteristics of product. They also contribute to
increase in .bulk of the product.
Results from experiments on soaking time, soaking
temperature, initial moisture and fermentation time on
physicochemical properties of maize dough (an intermediate
product for making Komi) have shown that development of
dough sourness (acid production) is essentially due to
fermentation. The observed effects of fermentation on dough
acidity is dependent on pre-fermentation treatment
conditions such as soaking time, soaking temperature and initial moisture contents of the dough system. Increasing
soaking temperature (in the range of 45°C to 60°C) and
initial moisture (in the range of 45% to 55%) favours high
dough acidity. Dry-milling of maize leads to high acid
production during fermentation. Cooked paste
characteristics (as measured by Brabender viscoamylograph
and Brookfield viscometer) were affected by soaking time,
soaking temperature and fermentation time. Viscosity
increases with fermentation time. Dry-milling of maize
results in low cooked paste viscosity of dough during
fermentation.
