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Compositional characteristics and aromatic profile of date palm seeds from seven varieties grown in Tunisia
Author(s) -
SaafiBen Salah Emna B.,
Flamini Guido,
El Arem Amira,
Issaoui Manel,
Dabbou Samia,
BenYahia Leila,
Ferchichi Ali,
Hammami Mohamed,
Achour Lotfi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of food science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.831
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1365-2621
pISSN - 0950-5423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2012.03049.x
Subject(s) - lauric acid , phoenix dactylifera , sugar , chemistry , food science , fatty acid , palm , oleic acid , horticulture , nutrient , moisture , dry weight , sucrose , botany , biology , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Summary This paper reports a discrimination study based on the physico‐chemical characteristics, fatty acids and profile of volatile compounds of the seeds from seven date palm varieties ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) grown in Tunisia. Date seeds contained 10.49–14.76% moisture; 6.28–11.2% fat (on a dry weight basis); 2.67–12.85% protein; 0.91–6.06% reducing sugar; 0.61–2.98% sucrose and 0.97–1.17% ash. Gas liquid chromatography revealed that the oil fraction of the date palm seeds contained eighteen fatty acids, with oleic acid (30.77–42.50%) and lauric acid (18.51–27.48%) as the main unsaturated and saturated ones. Volatile profile showed differences among varieties. In total, forty‐five compounds were identified, mainly alcohols, aldehydes and unsaturated hydrocarbons ones. This study provides evidence that the seeds of date may be a potential source of valuable nutrients with interesting functionality.