CANARIUM-SCHWEINFURTHII ENGL - CHEMICAL-COMPOSITION OF THE FRUIT PULP

Canarium schweinfurthii Engl. (Burseraceae) is a wild tree found mostly in Africa, which produces fruit similar to olives and which is barely used. On a dry matter basis, the fruit pulp from Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) was found to contain 5.6% protein, 30-50% fat, 8.2% starch, 11.8% cellulose and 8.3% ash (the highest mineral elements being potassium, 1.2% and calcium, 0.4%). The melting and solidification points of the extracted fat (44.5-degrees-C and 35.2-degrees-C, respectively) are higher than those of all the commercial and other Canarium-species oils. This oil shows low iodine, peroxide and carotene values (36, 17 meq-g and 2 mg, respectively). The fatty acid composition of the oil revealed a high content of oleic (89.4%) or stearic (67.7-84.0%) acids in the liquid, semi-solid and solid forms of the oil. Consequently, the content of these two acids is much higher in Canarium schweinfurthii oil than in any other vegetable oil. The three forms (liquid, semi-liquid and solid) of the oil depend on the maturity of the fruit and these stages will be investigated further in future work.