Physical-sensory characteristics and nutritional contents of black oncom and peanut ingredients-based biscuits as an elderly supplementary food

Elderly people are a vulnerable group that is in a risk of getting undernutrition. This problem could be addressed by fermented peanut meal (black oncom) which has many nutritional contents and potential health benefits. This study aimed to determine physical, sensory characteristics, and nutritional contents of biscuits with the addition of black oncom or peanuts which were made from a substitution from wheat flour to sorghum flour. A factorial design was used to formulate and test the biscuits. The factors were type of flour and additions of peanuts or black oncom flour. The hardness of biscuits was analyzed using Stevens LFRA texture analyzer instrument, while water absorption analysis was determined as bound water per gram of samples. Sensory analysis was performed using the hedonic test by semi-trained panelists and was evaluated on nine point scale. Nutritional contents of protein, lipid, water, ash, carbohydrate, crude fiber, and dietary fiber were analyzed using modified AOAC methods, while protein digestability was determined based on the enzymatic principle using modified Saunder method. Physical characteristics of biscuits were not significant different in the hardness and water absorption (P > 0.05), indicating that additions of peanut flour or black oncom flour did not affect physical characteristics. SOB (sorghum-based black oncom biscuit) had the same acceptance with WOB (wheat-based black oncom biscuit), but it had lower acceptance than SPB (sorghum-based peanut biscuits) and WPB (wheat-based peanut biscuits). The addition of black oncom flour increased nutritional contents in SOB and WOB as follows 15.12 and 14.45 g/100 g of protein, 1.98 and 1.87 g/100 g of ash, 1.06 and 0.08 g/100 g of crude fiber, 76.28 and 76.38% of protein digestibility and fat content of 28.18 and 29.83 g/100 g, respectively. Meanwhile, the nutritional contents of WPB and SPB were 12.18 and 12.53 g.100 g of protein, 31.78 and 29.41 g/100 g of fat, 1.93 and 1.75 g/100 g of ash, 0.69 and 1.09 g/100 g of crude fiber and 70.98 and 73.75% of protein digestibility, respectively. SOB showed significant differences in nutritional contents, especially in the protein and fat contents compared to WOB, SPB and WPB, whereas the protein digestability showed no significant differences. This study concluded that sorghum-based black oncom biscuits could be applied as a supplementary food for elderly people especially in the undernutrition problem.