title: Dietary fibre concentrate from Chilean algarrobo (Prosopis chilensis (Mol.) Stuntz) pods: purification and characterization.
abstract: Prosopis species are generally fast-growing, drought-resistant, nitrogen-fixing trees or shrubs. Fruits of Prosopis spp are indehiscent pods, where pericarp is formed by the epicarp, light brown in colour, and fibrous nature; the mesocarp known as pulp, which is rich in sugars; and the endocarp. The aim of this work was to obtain a fibre concentrate from the pods of Prosopis chilensis Mol. (Stuntz) and to determine the chemical, physical, and technological properties of the pod flour (PF) and of a fibre concentrate or pod purified flour (PPF). Acetone, ethanol, and water at different conditions of time and temperature were used in the purification process. PF showed 53.7 g/100 g of total sugar content, 4.2 g/100 g of reducing sugar content, 41.8 g/100 g of total dietary fibre, 35.8 g/100 g of insoluble fibre, and 6.0 g/100 g of soluble fibre content. The PPF has a total sugar content of 3.8 g/100 g, reducing sugar content of 2.2 g/100 g, total dietary fibre content of 80.8 g/100 g, insoluble fibre content of 75.1 g/100 g, and soluble fibre content of 5.7 g/100 g. The scanning electron microscopy analysis showed the existence of voids in the structure of PPF flour, which reveals the efficiency of the purification process with a high decrease in the total sugar content.
authors.affiliation: Department Agroindustria y Enología, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile aestevez@uchile.cl.
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Estévez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Figuerola
authors.affiliation: Department Agroindustria y Enología, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bernuy
authors.affiliation: Department Agroindustria y Enología, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sáenz
mesh_terms: D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000032:analysis*; D005433:Flour; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009753:Nutritive Value; D029862:Prosopis / Q000737:chemistry*
keywords: Dietary fibre; food ingredients; physical properties