Abstract
Studies were conducted on properties of seeds and oil extracted from fully ripened
Phoenix canariensis date seeds. The percentage composition of the
P. canariensis seeds found is: ash 1.18%, oil 10.36%, protein content 5.67%, total carbohydrate 72.59% and moisture 10.20%. The major nutrients (mg/100
g of oil) determined were: potassium (255.43), magnesium (62.78), calcium (48.56) and phosphorus (41.33). The physicochemical properties of the oil observed include: the saponification number 191.28; the iodine number 76.66, the p-anisidine value 3.67; the peroxide value 3.62
meq/kg; the unsaponifiable matter content 1.79%, the free fatty acids content 0.59%; the carotenoid content 5.51
mg/100
g; the chlorophyll content 0.10
mg/100
g and the refractive index 1.45. The main fatty acids of oil were oleic (50.10%), linoleic (19.23%), lauric (10.24%). palmitic (9.83%) and stearic (7.51%). The main triacylglycerols found in
P. canariensis seed oil were: LaMM
+
LaLaP (18.9%), LaMP
+
MMM (15.31%) and LaOO
+
PLL
+
MPL (12.86%). The DSC melting curves revealed that: melting point
=
3.71
°C and melting enthalpy
=
62.08
J/g. The sterol marker, β-sitosterol, accounted for 76.06% of the total sterols content in the seed oil followed by campesterol (8.89%) and Δ
5avenesterol (8.79%). α-Tocotrienol was the major tocol (66%) with the rest being γ-tocotrienol and γ-tocopherol.