‘ON SHOW’ – HOSPITALITY & TOURISM EDUCATION & TRAINING

Part 1 introduced the Department of Hospitality in Takoradi Technical University with a short historical background on Polytechnics transforming into Technical Universities in Ghana. We had a brief conversation with the Head of Department, Dr. Mrs. Frances Fraikue, on the difference between Polytechnic status and Technical University status and on what expectations one should have of graduates from Technical Universities.  

In Part 2, we are showcasing students’ project works under ‘Product development’. Following is the first batch. 

SELECTED PROJECT WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY STUDENTS

Mary Abena Dadzie and Vida Esi Abrokwa are final year students of Takoradi Technical University in the Hospitality Management Department. Their project is focused on rose apples.  

HOST: Welcome young ladies. Thank you for agreeing to represent your department to show case your project work. Why did you choose to carry out this particular project as hospitality students? 

Student Mary: We came together to choose this product with the idea of adding it to the varieties of jam in the market. There are many people who don’t have any idea about rose apples. There are a few others who are familiar with products made from rose apples like fruit drinks, wines, toffees, biscuits and smoothies. Even Indians and Australians use it as ornaments etc. 

HOST: Wouldn’t a drink from rose apples be more marketable than jam? 

Student Vida: Of course it will, but trust me, using rose apples for jam can be much more marketable, considering daily breakfast, serving as a bread spread. 

HOST: I know this might just be an academic exercise but how do you see the industry benefiting from the rose apples project?  

Student Mary: From our research, we realized that the rose apple fruit contains some essential nutrients to boost the immune system and it also cures some diseases like controlling diabetes, improving digestion, reducing toxicity, promoting heart health, and boosting immunity. 

We haven’t yet done a sensory evaluation on the jam product, but we strongly believe there will be a positive outcome and that people will accept it. To add up, it maintains its natural flavour after cooking. 

HOST: Did you consider how it could be packaged? 

Student Vida: Yes please; we have decided to package the jam in a glass jar with pink and white label with the product name, date of manufacture and expiry date, storage, net weight, ingredients and other essential nutrients in the jam. 

HOST: Well done and Thank you. 

THE USE OF ROSE APPLES IN MAKING JAM (in pictures)

THE USE OF COMPOSITE CASSAVA FLOUR IN THE PRODUCTION OF PASTA 

Doing this project under the course, Food Production, are Vicar Tawiah and Richwell Barnes. Both are 3rd year students offering HND in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management.  

HOST: Gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to come on this platform. My first question is to know why you chose to carry out this particular project as hospitality students. 

Student Tawiah: Cassava is a common staple food in Ghana and therefore we wanted to find an alternative way cassava can benefit the people aside from being used for gari, neat fufu and alcohol. 

Student Barnes: The aim was to utilize any of our local staple produce like, cassava, maize,  yam etc. by adding value to them to meet the needs of the international market. Also, making Ghanaians and the general public aware that there are treasures in our locally-produced crops if more research is done in those areas. Moreover, while reviewing some of the articles published by some of our lecturers, we came across one article on pasta production where it was highly recommended that researchers should think of improving the color when preparing cassava pasta for the market.  

This made us choose the topic “the use of composite cassava flour in the production of pasta” 

This research sought to: 

-find out the dishes that could be prepared using cassava flour 

-identify the benefits derived from the consumption of cassava flour 

-assess pasta made products made from cassava and wheat flour using sensory analysis 

HOST: Great! So, how will the industry benefit from this project? 

Student Tawiah: It will help in generating new products from cassava, to help boost the use of cassava and it products. 

HOST: Are you required to carry out similar projects in other subject areas? 

Student Tawiah: Yes please. Students can also work on areas like Food and Beverage, Front Office and Food Science  

HOST: And you chose to work on food production. Why? 

Student Tawiah: Yes. It has always been our wish to help develop something in the hospitality industry and we thought of the cassava; it is a very common food crop but the kind of products we have from it are limited. We embarked on a series of experimental research with the help of our Supervisor who is also the Head of the Department, Dr. Mrs. Fraikue; then finally, the product was developed using 50% wheat flour and 50% cassava flour for the pasta. 

HOST: Processing cassava can be a long process. How long did this take?  

Student Barnes: Yes. It can be long but due to technological advancement, the process was shortened.  

The stage that needs more time is the drying stage which could take almost a week to dry the cassava when using natural sunlight depending on the weather conditions. But for us, we did oven drying which sped the process by drying the cassava within two hours at a temperature of 100°C. 

HOST: Good to know, well done and thank you.

THE USE OF COMPOSITE CASSAVA FLOUR IN THE PRODUCTION OF PASTA (in pictures) 

Look out for the use of sorghum flour and a few others in next weeks’ feature. Thank you.