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Phenolic Content, Antioxidant Activity, and Consumer Acceptability of Sorghum Cookies

¹Agric. Res. Council, Private Bag X1251, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa. ²Dept. Food Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ³Corresponding author: Phone: +27 12 4204299, Fax: +27 12 4202839, E-mail: gyebi.duodu@up.ac.za

Cookies were produced from different sorghum flours to determine their potential as vectors of antioxidants. Different sorghum cultivars and their flour extraction rates were evaluated for their effects on phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the cookies. Consumer acceptance of the sorghum cookies was compared with that of wheat flour cookies. For each sorghum cultivar, cookies of 100% extraction rate flours had two to three times more total phenolics compared with those of 70% extraction rate flours, while antioxidant activity was 22–90% higher. Cookies of the condensed tannin sorghum had two to five times more phenolics compared with those of condensed tannin-free sorghum. Antioxidant activity was 145–227 μMol Trolox equivalents (TE)/g in cookies of condensed tannin sorghum compared with 10–102 μMol TE/g in those of condensed tannin-free sorghum. The sorghum flours had slightly higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity values than their corresponding cookies. Cookies of the red tannin-free sorghum flours (PAN 8564/8446) were equally liked as wheat flour cookies, except for texture. However, cookies of condensed tannin sorghum were least accepted compared with wheat flour cookies despite their high antioxidant activity.