Chemical and Functional Characteristics of Conophor Nut

Abstract

The proximate chemical composition of freshly harvested mature conophor nut (Tetratcarpidium conophorum Mull. (Arg) Euporbiaceae) showed that it contains on a dry weight basis, 29.09% protein, 6.34% fibre, 48.9% oil, 3.09% ash and 12.58% carbohydrates. The elemental concentrations in the raw conophor nut showed it has a high phosphorus content (465.95 mg/100g); cadmium and nickel were very low (0.01 and 0.38 mg/100g, respectively). Two methods of processing were applied to the mature nuts, namely, cooking for 2 h and toasting in hot sand at 100 ^oC for 30 min. Antinutritional factors in the raw, cooked and toasted nuts were determined. Cooking brought about significant (P<0.05) decreases in tannin and phytate contents, while toasting enhanced the concentration of these factors in the oilseed. The functional properties of the full-fat raw and processed forms were examined, alongside those of defatted raw conophor nut. The highest values for water absorption capacity (186.64%); oil absorption capacity (168.70%) and foaming capacity (8%) were recorded for the defatted raw conophor nut. The lowest protein solubilities or the iso-electric points for the samples occurred at pH 4 (full-fat raw nut), pH 3 (cooked nut) and pH 4 (toasted nut) and pH 6 (defatted raw nut). The results show that defatting brought about an improvement in the functional characteristics of the oilseed. Also, cooking enhanced its functional significance.