Abstract
Drum dried yam flakes were prepared from six varieties representing four species. Steam cooking led to lower flesh loss than water cooking. Certain parts of the cooked yams were pigmented. Stickiness of the reconstituted product varied with varieties, indicating that the free starch content (blue value) was not the only factor affecting stickiness; e.g. Lisbon with a blue value of 860 was less sticky than Cush-cush which had a blue value of 286. The effect of maturity on flake quality indicates that immature tubers were unsuitable for flake production, while storage of tubers up to 20 weeks had no apparent effect on flake quality. Storage studies show that there was a greater loss in quality of flakes stored in polyethylene bags than flakes stored in glass jars, with amber-coloured jars showing a slightly better keeping quality than clear jars. Moisture content was a critical factor in keeping quality. D. alata—Lisbon, Coconut and Oriental gave products with high acceptability.