CHEMICAL EVALUATION OF MACADAMIA NUTS AND PRITCHARDIA SEEDS

Abstract

The present work was conducted to evaluate chemically the quality of pritchardia seeds and macadamia nuts as an alternative sources for lipids and proteins to the classical crops. Macadamia nuts and pritchardia seeds are lipid and carbohydrate rich sources, respectively. Amino acid analysis and consequently the chemical sources for the essential amino acids indicated that pritchardia and macadamia meals were far superior in their quality than the whole eggs. The physical and chemical properties of the lipids extracted from macadamia nuts and pritchardia seeds indicated that these lipids belong to non-drying oil group and withstand against hydrolysis and oxidative rancidity. The fatty acid analysis revealed that the most predominant fatty acids of macadamia and pritchardia lipids were 16:1, 18:1 and 14:0, 15:0, 18:1, 18:2; respectively. The hydrocarbons of macadamia and pritchardia unsaponifiables were fractionated by GLC into 11 and 18 compounds, respectively. The major hydrocarbons were C22 and C23 and amounted to 60,8% and 57%, respectively. Three sterols were only found in macadamia and pritchardia unsaponifiables, i.e., cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol and cholesterol, campesterol, beta-sitosterol, respectively.