PATAUA - A SOURCE OF VEGETABLE EDIBLE OIL - NEW ALTERNATIVES

Abstract

An analysis has been made on a tropical unconventional fat. It has been extracted from the Pataua fruit, of Palmaceae family, in order to know and evaluate the qualities of this oil and giving, this way, the possibility of a new source to obtaine vegetable edible fats. The acidic percentage composition is characterized by a large amount of monounsaturated acids (oleic acid above all) and, on the other side, a low concentration of polyunsaturated acids (linoleic and linolenic). Although it has to be pointed out the accordance of the qualitative and quantitative composition of the unsaponifiable fraction of the oil of Pataua to that which we can usually found out in vegetable edible oils.