Chemical and Physio-Chemical Characterization of the Flours and Oils from Whole and Rejected Cashew Nuts Cultivated in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

2 Abstract: Processed whole as well as rejected cashew nuts were obtained from a processing plant located at Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Each of them were divided into two, a part defatted while the other part were undefatted. They were thereafter characterized with respect to their proximate constituents, energy, mineral contents, anti-nutritional factors and functional properties. The physio-chemical properties of the oil from the cashew nuts were also determined. On the average, crude protein (CP) of the whole nut ranged from 200.0 ± 0.3 g kg DM in undefatted to 304.0 ± 0.1 g kg DM in the defatted sample while it ranged from 176.0 ± 0.6 -1 -1 g kg DM to 323.0 ± 0.5 g kg DM with 30% and 45.5% increments, respectively. The crude fat of th e -1 -1 kg . The water absorption capacity (WAC) was enhanced by 35% and 50%, respectively in the whole and -1 rejected samples by defatting while oil absorption capacity (OAC) were enhanced by 18% and 42%, respectively by defatting. There were wide variations among the foaming capacity (FC) and foaming stability (FS) as evident in the high values of coefficient of variation (CV) of 127.7% and 115.5% respectively. The protein solubility curves generally had multiple maxima and minima peaks. The oil from the CNM had iodine value of 115.0 wijs in rejects and 136.9 wijs in whole nut and the peroxide value varied widely with a CV of 41.85% when compared with other properties of the oil analyzed. The analytical data indicate that the good and rejected cashew nut could be important alternative protein and energy contributors to compound non ruminant animal feed in this region.