Abstract
Camel milk was collected from eight locations in Jordan from north to south and was subjected to analysis of chemical and physical properties and vitamin and mineral contents. There was a wide variation in the chemical composition of camel milk collected from different locations with ranges of 21.0 (Al Jweideh) to 24.9% (Wadi Araba) for crude protein, 28.2 (Wadi Araba) to 45.8% (As Safawi) for fat, 6.1 (As Safawi) to 7.3% (Wadi Araba) for ash, 23.8 (As Safawi) to 41.0% (Al Jweideh) for lactose and 10.5 (Al Qatrana) to 17.2% (As Safawi) for thy matter. Camel milk acidity ranged from 0.12 to 0.15% and no significant differences were found in specific gravity values (1.01-1.03 g/ml) for milk collected from different locations. Refractive Index values varied significantly and ranged between 1.3470 (Al Qatrana) and 1.3524 (Al Khalidyah). Total soluble solids ranged between 9.5 (Al Jweideh) and 12.9% (Al Khalidyah). For mineral contents of camel milk collected from different locations, variations were significant for all analyzed minerals except for copper, iron and manganese. This study recommends using camel milk as a nutriceutical and functional food. The camel milk could be used as a new product in food technology.