The chemical composition of the seeds of Iranian pumpkin cultivars and physicochemical characteristics of the oil extract

Four Iranian pumpkin seed cultivars were evaluated for their chemical composition and physicochemical characteristics of the extracted oils. Moisture content of seeds was quite low and ranged from 4.7 to 5.4%. The samples showed high level of protein (28.8–35.5%) and oil content (36.9–47.8%) in which the highest amount belonged to Postekaghazi cultivar. In regard to oil properties, due to the high level of oleic acid (52.7%) followed by linoleic acid (28.1%), Khoreshti cultivar was much different from other samples (in which linoleic acid is predominant: 46.5–56.1%). Moreover, relatively high content of phenolic compounds led to high‐oxidative stability index (OSI) of 16.63 h for Khoreshti oil compared to other samples (6.99–10.54 h). Furthermore, cluster analysis confirmed the data obtained in this study. The results showed that pumpkin seed oils were nutritionally valuable and refined oil might be suitable to use as salad or cooking oil.