Mafura Nut Oil and Meal: Processing and Purification

The seeds of the tropical tree known as mafura (Trichilia emetica) contain significant amounts of oil and protein. So far, commercial use of the mafura seeds has been prevented by the presence of a strong bitter and emetic taste, as well as a brownish color in both oil and meal. A refining procedure which gives edible oil with acceptable organoleptic properties has been developed. The raw meal has been extracted with aqueous alcohol to give a debittered meal with a protein content of about 36%. The amino acid composition of the meal was found to be comparable to that of other vegetable food proteins, except for a relatively low content of sulfur‐containing amino acids. The brown color has been shown to result from browning reactions taking place during storage and processing. Most of the color may be removed by repeated treatments with dilute sodium hydroxide, followed by bleaching with earth and activated carbon.