In most African countries, including Benin, traditional food processing contributes to largely reduce post-harvest losses that varied from 10 to 30% of production (FAO, 1983; Hodges et al., 2011) and, thereby, to improve food security in developing countries.

Most traditional African foods are cereal-based products made from sorghum (Kayodé et al., 2012), maize (Amoa-awua and Oduro-yeboah, 2010; Hongbete et al., 2017a), rice (Houngbédji  et  al., 2018), pearl  meal (Garí, 2002), finger millet (Abulude et al., 2005; Amadou et al., 2013) and teff (Gebru et al., 2020; Homem et al., 2020). In North of Benin, Dambou, a cereal-steamed granulated dumpling usually made from rice and maize, is one of traditional food consumed by both rural and urban people. Dambou is ready-to-eat staple food often mixed with leaves of Moringa oleifera during consumption. The consumption of Dambou could be a potential way to prevent  protein diseases due to the high content of Moringa leaves in protein (Achigan-Dako et al., 2010; Coppin et al., 2015; Houndji et al., 2013; Sena et al., 1998; Shiriki et al., 2015; Weinberger and Msuya, 2004).

Despite the nutritional importance of Dambou, it is not well known by Beninese. To improve the quality of Dambou, information on traditional processing methods, problems associated with processing and quality criteria are needed. The main purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding on the traditional processing of Dambou and its quality as perceived by processors and consumers.

Sampling of informants

The survey was conducted in the municipality of Parakou (latitude 9°21’North and longitude 2°36’East) located in the Department of Borgou, where Dambou is commonly consumed. A total of 52 processors (also sellers) and 166 consumers were randomly surveyed at different production sites of Dambou located in the municipality of Parakou.

Questionnaires design and field data collection

A semi-structured questionnaire was formulated to collect data on Dambou production during a face-to-face survey. The questionnaire was designed and divided into three parts. The first part dealt with demographic characteristics of Dambou processors (name, gender, age, education level, contact details). The second part was related to Dambou production (raw materials, ingredients used, processing steps, type of Dambou, etc.). The third part focused on the quality perception of Dambou processors. The questionnaire was administrated to Dambou processors and consumers as individual interviews in French and local languages (Dendi and Bariba).

Data analysis

The numerical version of the questionnaire was realised with the software Sphinx Survey Plus² (version 4.5) to record the collected data. The Microsoft Excel software (Microsoft office, version 2013) was used to calculate basic statistics (frequencies, percentages, means, etc.). Multiple comparisons of proportions of Dambou processors and consumers were realised based on 95% confidence interval (CI) using the following formula.

With = proportion of Dambou processors or consumers and  = total number in sampled population.

Socio-cultural profile of Dambou processors and consumers

The results of  Socio-demographic characteristics of surveyed processors and consumers of Dambou are summarized in Table 1. All the interviewed processors (100%) were female. This result is in accordance with previous studies on traditional food processing and marketing which also reported similar results (Akpo-Djènontin et al., 2016; Hongbete et al., 2017b). However, both genders were represented among consumers with proportion of male consumers (61.4%) higher than female consumers (38.6%). This could be due to the fact that the majority (63.9%) of consumers especially men were unmarried having preference for street foods.

The majority (90.4%) of processors surveyed were ≤ 45 years of age. Most of them had no formal education (illiterate and local language education) (46.2%), while 42.3 and 11.5% of them had primary and secondary education, respectively. The marital status of processors showed that 80.8% (p<0.001) of them were married. Also, the know-how acquisition of processors showed that 80.8% (p<0.001) of them received their knowledge from their mothers. Dambou processors and consumers belonged to various socio-cultural groups with the following composition: Haoussa (29.4%), Dendi (28.0%), Bariba (15.6%) and Zerman (12.8%), followed by minority group of Yoruba (9.2%) and Fulani (5.0%) (p<0.001). These socio-cultural groups were also found in Niger and Nigeria, countries with whom Benin shares land frontiers and traditional foods including Dambou (Luxereau, 2002).

Processing technique of Dambou

Required raw materials and ingredients

Table 2 presents the nature and quantity of raw materials used for Dambou processing and the frequency of production. The quantity of raw material used ranged from 10 to 140 kg per week and per processors depending on the type of Dambou. The ingredients added during consumption were pepper, cloves, ginger, onion, M. oleifera leaves, cowpea and groundnut powder.

Blended coarse, sieved maize semolina and coarse rice flour were also used to produce Dambou (Figure 1B). The rice was crushed to produce coarse rice flour (Figure 1C). The coarse cereal semolina was humidified manually by hand (step 8). The humidification step is very delicate, which required a homogeneous wetting of the semolina by confirming the volume of the additional water. High amounts of water lead to formation of dough during the steaming step (step 9). The steaming step is done two and three times for rice and maize, respectively. The objective of steaming is to make the coarse semolina soft. After each steaming, the steamed coarse cereal grits was cooled in water, which is in direct contact with the product (step 10) and broken up into granular lumps for 30 to 40 min for end product (step 13). This traditional cooling step is associated with many problems, such as poor quality of water, equipment used, and possible contamination by processor.

Frequency of Dambou production

The frequency of production varied depending on type of Dambou. Dambou from rice is the most frequently produced with 42.3% of processors who made it more than four to five times per week (63.6% of processors) (Table 2); Dambou from maize was made by 38.5% of processors producing it more than four to five times per week (45.5% of processors); Dambou from the mixed rice and maize was produced with 19.2% of processors who made it four to five times per week (100% of processors).

Preference of consumption

The majority of consumers (70.5%) preferred Dambou made from rice, followed by Dambou based maize (21.1%) and Dambou from a mixture of both cereals (8.5%). Before consumption,  the  main  ingredients  used were M. oleifera leaves, pepper, ginger, onion, cowpea, groundnut powder and cloves. The majority (65.7%) (p<0.001) of consumers reported that Dambou is consumed with M. oleifera leaves, pepper, ginger, onion, cowpea and groundnut powder (p<0.001). According to processor’s perception M. oleifera is believed to have special nutritional qualities. So, M. oleifera leaves contribute to both household nutrition and health (Dansi et al., 2008; Shiriki et al., 2015). Also, groundnuts contain high amounts of vegetable protein and fat, mostly unsaturated fatty acids. Groundnuts are clearly nutrient dense foods (Shibli et al., 2019; Timbadiya et al., 2017).

Frequency of Dambou consumption

Regarding the frequency, higher levels of Dambou consumption were reported. About 95.7 and 100% of interviewed Dambou consumers who made the Dambou from rice and maize, respectively, ate Dambou at least once per week. All the consumers (100%) of Dambou made from mixed rice/maize claimed to consume Dambou two to three times per week (Table 3).

In addition, interviewed consumers claimed that ingredients added to Dambou (Table 3) included the following: pepper/ ginger/onion/M. oleifera/groundnut powder (70.1-100% of interviewed consumers), cloves/ ginger/onion/ M. oleifera/groundnut powder (8.5% of interviewed consumers) or cloves/ ginger/onion/ M. oleifera/groundnut powder/ cowpea (21.4% of interviewed consumers). The majority of interviewed consumers (91.5, 74.3 and 93.3%, respectively) ate Dambou of rice, maize and mixed rice/maize, respectively, during lunch time.

Quality perception of Dambou

According to the processors or consumers interviewed (Figure 2); whatever the raw material (rice or maize) used, Dambou should have a white colour (51.6-69.6% of processors and 60.1-86.4% of consumers), a uniform grainy (49.6-66.8% of processors and 51.1-83.2% of consumers), firm texture (53.6-60.9% of processors and 45.2-51.7% of consumers), stain-removed and grainy (87.2-98.2% of processors and 84.6-100% of consumers), cereal taste (23.1-41.2% of processors and 61.0-65.1% of consumers) and cereal odour (47.6-55.8% of processors and 58.9-81.2% of consumers). Among the processors interviewed, 71.2% claimed that the yellow cultivar of maize or rice should not be used for Dambou production due to the fact that the yellowish colour is too repulsive.

This study revealed that Dambou is a ready to eat staple food based cereal very appreciated by consumers. Regarding to the raw material used (rice, maize and mix of rice and maize), Dambou is obtained via three processing methods, leading to intermediate product as coarse cereal flour. Moreover, the results showed that rice is the cereal mostly used for Dambou production. For most of consumers, Dambou of good quality should be soft to the touch, uniform and stain-removed with grainy consistency.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.

This research received no external funding.