Comparison of sensory characteristics of traditional Zimbabwean non‐alcoholic cereal beverages, masvusvu and mangisi with mahewu, a commercial cereal product

A sensory evaluation was performed to characterise the acceptability of home made masvusvu and mangisi in comparison with commercial instant and fermented mahewu. These products are all non‐alcoholic Zimbabwean beverages prepared from cereals. It was found that the flavour of masvusvu was of good quality (X > c(β)) compared to that of instant mahewu (X < c(β)). The flavours of both mangisi and fermented mahewu were found to be of low quality (X < c (β)). The consistency of both masvusvu and mangisi were found to be of good quality (X> c(β)) compared to that of instant and fermented mahewu which were found to be of low quality (X < c(β)). The appearance of all the products was considered to be of low quality (X > c(β)). These results suggest that if masvusvu and mangisi were to be commercialised, they could equally compete with mahewu whilst masvusvu would probably be more popular than instant mahewu.

Key words:

• Sensory evaluation
• masvusvu
• mangisi
• mahewu

Notes

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