Proximate composition and some nutritionally valuable minerals in the dehulled seeds and seed hull of anacaridium occidentale (l.) and blighia sapida (koenig)

E.I. Adeyeye¹* And M.A. Oyarekua²

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Ado Ekiti, P.M.B. 5363, Ado-Ekiti Nigeria. ²Department of Science Technology, Federal Polytechnic, P.M.B. 5351, Ado-Ekiti Nigeria.

ABSTRACT: The proximate and mineral composition of the hull and dehulled seeds of Anacardium occidentale (L.) (cashew) and Blighia sapida (Koenig) (akee) were determined. The proximate composition showed that both dehulled samples of A. ocidentale and B. sapida were high in crude protein with respective values of 32.0g/100g and 20.4g/100g dry weight. The crude fat in B. sapida was high (21.0g/100g) while the carbohydrate in the dehulled samples had almost similar values with A. occidentale (42.7g/100g) and B. sapida (43.1g/100g) which is 0.42% variation. Both the dehulled and hull of A. occidentale would be good sources of Ca, Mg, Zn and P while the dehulled and hull samples of B. sapida would be good sources of Ca, Mg, Zn, P, K and Na. The hull in B. sapida was better concentrated in Ca, Mg, Zn, P and Fe than the dehulled analogue. The results showed that B. sapida seeds could be exploited for human use rather than being thrown away.

KEYWORDS: Anacardium occidentale; Blighia sapida; proximate composition; nutritionally valuable minerals

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