Abstract
The aim of this work was to characterize the major and minor compounds of laboratory-extracted and commercial oils from sweet almond, hazelnut, and pecan nut. Oils from sweet almond, hazelnut, and pecan nut were obtained by means of an expeller system, while the corresponding commercial oils were provided from Vital Âtman (BR). The contents of triacylglycerols, fatty acids, aliphatic and terpenic alcohols, desmethyl-, methyl-, and dimethylsterols, squalene, and tocopherols were determined. Oleic, palmitic, and linoleic acids were the main fatty acids. Desmethylsterols were the principal minor compounds withβ-sitosterol being the most abundant component. Low amounts of aliphatic and terpenic alcohols were also found. The major tocopherol in hazelnut and sweet almond oils wasα-tocopherol, whereasγ-tocopherol prevailed in pecan nut oil. Principal component analysis made it possible for us to differentiate among samples, as well as to distinguish between commercial and laboratory-extracted oils. Heatmap highlighted the main variables featuring each sample. Globally, these results have brought a new approach on nut oil characterization.
Highlights
Nuts belong to various plant families, they have special common features such as high oil content and large seed size when compared to other oilseed species
Oils from sweet almond, hazelnut, and pecan nut are monounsaturated fats whose fatty acid composition is dominated by oleic acid
The presence of ω7, ω-9, and ω-11 isomers of palmitoleic and oleic acids has been described in these kinds of oils
Summary
Nuts belong to various plant families, they have special common features such as high oil content and large seed size when compared to other oilseed species. Almonds (Prunus dulcis, family Rosaceae), hazelnuts (Corylus avellana, family Betulaceae), and pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis, family Juglandaceae) are part of the main group of tree nuts and nut oil sources. In many parts of the world such as the Mediterranean countries and North America, tree nuts are an important oil crop and an essential dietary component, acting as energy and functional compound sources. Almond oil is extracted mainly from sweet almonds, which contain around 50% oil. This extraction is commercially conducted by the cold press and/or solvent extraction [3]. Speaking, sweet almond oil has been described as an unsaturated oil, with oleic acid (O, C18:1) being the main fatty acid (∼65%) [5], with β-sitosterol as the most representative sterol and α-tocopherol as the major tocopherol [6, 7].
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