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

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Abstract

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.

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Abbreviations

AA:

Ascorbic acid

HDL:

High-density lipoprotein

HPCP:

Home-prepared carob powder

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

LDL:

Low-density lipoprotein

MUSFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acid

MVD:

Micro-vacuum degasser

CPCP:

Commercially-prepared carob powder

PUSFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acid

RID:

Refractive index detector

TCC:

Thermostated column compartment

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Acknowledgement

Some of the chemicals, reagents and instrumentation used in the present study were purchased using funds awarded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (TUBITAK-TBAG Project No.: 103 T152). The authors gratefully acknowledge this support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey

    Faik A. Ayaz, Hülya Torun & Zehra D. Bak

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Robert H. Glew

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Yuanpei University, Hsin Chu, Taiwan

    Luther T. Chuang

  4. Molecular Structure Facility, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Jack M. Presley

  5. National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Ronnie Andrews

Authors
  1. Faik A. Ayaz
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  2. Hülya Torun
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  3. Robert H. Glew
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  4. Zehra D. Bak
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  5. Luther T. Chuang
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  6. Jack M. Presley
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  7. Ronnie Andrews
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Correspondence to Faik A. Ayaz.

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Ayaz, F.A., Torun, H., Glew, R.H. et al. Nutrient Content of Carob Pod (Ceratonia siliqua L.) Flour Prepared Commercially and Domestically. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 64, 286–292 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-009-0130-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-009-0130-3

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