Effect of Hydrothermal Processing Period on the Chemical Composition of African Walnut (Tertracarpidium conophorum).

Abstract

The effect of hydrothermal processing period on the nutritional content of walnut was investigated. The nuts were cooked for 60, 80 and 105 min at a temperature of 100oC. Raw walnut was the control. The following results were obtained for raw walnut; walnuts cooked for 60, 80 and 105 min as follow: moisture content 42.25, 43.85, 44.00 and 44.75%, fat 16.13,16.55, 17.13 and 16.57%, crude protein 21.45, 19.27, 19.15 and 17.85%, crude fibre 2.20, 2.99, 3.35 and 5.60%, ash 2.02, 2.52, 2.45 and 3.00%, carbohydrate 15.96, 14.83, 13.93 and 12.23%, respectively. It was evident that there were varying degrees of changes that occurred in each of the chemical composition of the nut with respect to the different cooking time. From the results obtained, it was discovered that walnut cooked for 80 min at a constant temperature of 1000C gave better results in terms of nutrient retention.