Nutrient Content of Carob Pod (Ceratonia siliqua L.) Flour Prepared Commercially and Domestically

Although the fruit of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L. Fabaceae) is nutritious and widely available in Turkey, especially in West and South Anatolia, much remains to be learned about its nutrient composition. The main goal of our study was to determine if there are differences in the content of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht) 2009-12, Vol.64 (4), p.286-292
Main Authors: Ayaz, Faik A, Torun, Hülya, Glew, Robert H, Bak, Zehra D, Chuang, Luther T, Presley, Jack M, Andrews, Ronnie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Chemistry/Food Science
Ecology
Fabaceae - chemistry
Fatty Acids, Essential - analysis
Food Analysis
Food Handling
Food Industry
Food Science
Fruit - chemistry
Humans
Iron - analysis
Lysine - analysis
Manganese - analysis
Nutrition
Nutritive Value
Original Paper
Plant Physiology
Plant Preparations - chemistry
Proteins - analysis
Reference Values
Sucrose - analysis
Turkey
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Summary:Although the fruit of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L. Fabaceae) is nutritious and widely available in Turkey, especially in West and South Anatolia, much remains to be learned about its nutrient composition. The main goal of our study was to determine if there are differences in the content of certain nutrients in commercially-prepared carob flour (CPCP) and domestic or home-prepared carob powder (HPCP). Sucrose was the main sugar in CPCP and HPCP. Total protein was 40% lower in CPCP than HPCP due mainly to decreases in the content of several essential amino acids. However, except for lysine in CPCP, HPCP and CPCP compared favourably to a WHO protein standard. There were large differences in terms of their content of the two essential fatty acids, linoleic and α-linolenic acid, and the linoleic acid/α-linolenic acid ratio was 3.6 for CPCP, and 6.1 for HPCP. Manganese and iron were 2.5-fold higher in HPCP than CPCP. This study demonstrates that carob flour prepared in either the household or industrially is a good source of many, but not all essential nutrients, and that commercial processing of carob fruit into flour seems to affect its content of several important nutrients.
ISSN:0921-9668
1573-9104
DOI:10.1007/s11130-009-0130-3