Temperature and Time Model for Optimum Nutritional Contents in Soymilk Processing

Abstract

Soybean is gaining wider acceptability as a cheap source of protein for human consumption and is therefore fast becoming a strong competitor with conventional (cow) milk. The challenge of undetermined standard cooking temperature and time was addressed using a statistical design software for Design of Experiment, analysis of results, derivation of mathematical models and optimization analysis. The optimization model maximized protein, carbohydrate, fat, and fibre while minimizing moisture and ash at the optimum cooking temperature of 118 oC and cooking time period of 30 minutes. The model was used to determine the optimum nutritional contents for six nutrients namely moisture (88.490%), ash (0.582%), fat (0.928%), fibre (1.459%), protein (3.698%), and carbohydrate (4.843%). The model was further tested by carrying out the experiment at the determined optimum cooking conditions. The result gave a very close match for most of the nutrients.