Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, Wild.): As a potential ingredient of injera in Ethiopia

Both tef (Eragrostis tef) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) are known in their nutritional quality. While tef is the most common cereal crop in Ethiopia, quinoa is introduced to the country recently and its utilization as a food is not known. In this study, quinoa flour was substituted into tef flour at 10% interval to evaluate injera making potential of the two flour blends. Standard methods of analysis were used to analyze proximate composition and essential amino acid contents of the grains and injera made from blended flours. Five point hedonic scale was used to evaluate sensory acceptability of tef-quinoa injera. The overall essential amino acid profile of the tef and quinoa grains, and the injera product can be regarded as well-balanced. With an increase in the quinoa substitution levels from 0 to 40%, protein (10.14-11.66 g/100g), fat (1.78-2.67g/100g), fiber (3.53-4.38 g/100g) and ash (2.60-2.74 g/100g) contents of the injera increased, whereas sensory scores for taste (3.90-3.03), aroma (3.67-3.13), rollability (4.25-3.25), eyes evenness (3.70-2.60), underneath color (4.10-2.45) and overall acceptability (4.10-3.10) had shown decreasing. Therefore, up to 30% quinoa flour could be incorporated into tef flour with improved nutritional quality without adverse effect on sensory acceptability of tef-quinoa injera.