Recipe and Nutritional Content of Traditional soups and stews consumed in both urban and rural communities in Nigeria
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Twenty-three soups and four stews were prepared by indigenes of the zones, recipe standardized and soups analyzed for the essential nutrients. The raw materials used were leafy vegetables, seeds (ogbono, melon and groundnut) and fruity vegetable (okro, palm-fruit). All the samples were analysed for proximate parameters and mineral composition. Water content was found to vary between 57.92% and 78% for leafy vegetable soups and lower than57.58% for stews. Protein ranged between 5.87% and 23.54%while fat content was found to vary from 2.03 to 12.37% for leafy vegetable soups and 16.49 to 28.03% for stews.The soups werefound to be rich in minerals and some in fibre especially the fried leafy vegetable soups while they are deficient in carbohydrate. A particular traditional soup known and called white soup (OfeNsala) peculiar to SSgeo-political zone in Nigeria was prepared without added oil contained the lowest fat content of 1.91 % on fresh basis. The soups are rich in anti-oxidants, vitamins and essential minerals.