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Columns::January 13, 2003
$1 million gift will establish endowed chair in public policy
$6.7 million NSF grant funds study of land-use change in southern Applachian Mountains
Adam Cureton is UGA’s newest Rhodes Scholar
Woodruff, Honors Program student, named one of 40 Marshall Scholars
Marine talk
State, nation econmic forecast: Still raining
IRP considers changes in operational procedures
Campus Closeup
Update: Private Giving
Newsmakers
A personal philosophy of teaching
Campus News
Full of beans
Food scientists develop high-protein hush puppies from deep-fried cowpea paste
By Sharon Omahen
somahen@griffin.peachnet.edu
UGA food scientists are working to introduce akara, a popular West African food, to U.S. consumers through the frozen food
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| UGA food scientists Kay McWatters (right) and Dick Phillips (left) look on as graduate student Amandip Singh whips up a batch of akara pea pups. (Photo by Sharon Omahen) |
and fast-food markets.
Similar to hush puppies, akara is made from deep-fried cowpea (black-eyed pea) paste.
“Most Southerners are accustomed to eating black-eyed peas, which are a member of the cowpea family,” says Kay McWatters, a food scientist with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “The varieties we grow in the Southeast are typically used as a fresh or frozen vegetable for boiling. So eating black-eyed peas in the form of a fried food would be a new experience.”
Akara’s major drawback has been its high fat content, McWatters says. But UGA’s newest formulations have solved that problem.
Sarah Page Patterson, a recent UGA food science graduate, has developed an akara formulation that has reduced its fat content significantly.
“Our early akara formulations contained 31.8 percent crude fat (dry weight basis) compared to 25.6 percent of crude fat for the fried cornmeal hush puppies from a fast-food restaurant,” McWatters says. “Now we’ve reduced the fat by adding corn starch. And our akara pea pups are in line with the fat content of hush puppies and french fries (21 percent crude fat).”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that fried foods have been unaffected by the nutrition revolution, and the french fry is still the most consumed fast-food item, McWatters says.
Although they will never be considered a low-fat food, akara pea pups are much better nutritionally than their Southern
hush puppy counterparts.
“Akara’s protein content (22 percent) is twice that of hush puppies (10 percent) and almost three times that of french fries (8 percent),” McWatters says. “It’s a good source of proteins and B vitamins and minerals.”
A federal program, the Bean-Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program, funds UGA’s akara project. The goal of this project is to broaden the way Americans view and eat beans and cowpeas. Akara is a staple in many people’s diets in West African countries. But it’s relatively unknown in the United States.
“It resembles a hush puppy as it has a crisp crust and a breaded interior,” McWatters says. “But akara has a much higher protein content than a cornmeal hush puppy because of its legume base.”
It has a pleasing, beanlike flavor, McWatters says. It’s typically seasoned with salt, minced onion and either bell or hot peppers.
Past consumer tests conducted by UGA food scientists have found that Americans like akara because of its ethnic appeal. These surveys also show Americans would best accept akara as a fast food or as a fully cooked, frozen, reheatable item.
UGA researchers have found that several cowpea varieties can be used to make akara that closely resembles the traditional black-eyed pea product in texture and flavor.
“We’ve used black-eyed, crowder, pink-eye, purple hull, white eye [California cream] and white acre,” McWatters says.
UGA researchers are working with Inland Empire Foods of Riverside, Calif., to introduce akara through frozen-food and convenience-food markets.
“Inland is particularly interested in the all-white cowpea because it doesn’t have any black eyes--therefore, the dehulling step can be eliminated,” she says. “They currently use peas, beans and other legumes in convenience-type foods and make a whole line of dry soup mixes that need only hot water to rehydrate.”
McWatters and her colleagues have worked on the fat reduction aspects of this project for the past two years. They’re eager to see akara hit the market.
“Most of our efforts have been toward tailoring this production for the food-service industry, particularly restaurants and institutions,” she says. “We’d love to see it hit the fast-food market, too.”
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