**3.3 Sensory evaluation and acceptability of vegetable leaf-fortified pastry products**

In sensory evaluations of vegetable-fortified pastry, the quality attributes of interest are color, flavor, taste, texture, appearance, and acceptability. In the study conducted by Fasogbon et al. [14] on the quality attributes of *Chinchin* and cookie enriched with *Telfaria occidentalis*, *Amaranthus viridis,* and *Solanum macrocarpon* leaf powders, wheat flours were substituted up to 10% with the vegetable powders. It was observed from the studies that an increase in the level of inclusion of the leaf powders decreased the level of acceptability of the products. Cookies and *Chinchin* fortified with 2% and 5% leaf powder were not significantly different in taste when compared with non-fortified equivalents. In a similar study conducted by Akindele [57], wheat flour was replaced with 1%, 3%, and 5% *Basella alba* and *Telfaria occidentalis* leaf powders in the production of high-quality and acceptable *Chinchin* and cookies. In the study, it was observed that incorporation of the leaf powders did not affect the taste of the snacks when compared with cookies and *Chinchin* produced with 100% wheat flour. Replacement of wheat flour with vegetable leaf powders up to 5% did not affect flavor and texture of the cookies and *Chinchin* [57]. Results from the MicroVeg project are superior to those reported for *Chinchin* and cookies fortified with 5% soybean, which had very low consumer acceptance in terms of flavor and taste [49]. The poor consumer acceptance of the soybean-fortified pastries was attributed to the imparted beany flavor. The green color of vegetable leaf-fortified pastry increased significantly as the inclusion level increased. However, despite the green color, vegetable leaf-fortified pastries were acceptable to consumers to the 5% level of incorporation [14, 57].
