Chemical and Nutritional Evaluation of Bitter Melon Seeds and their Use in the Preparation of Tahini

This work was designed to study the chemical and nutritional properties of bitter melon seeds, where the traditional method used by the Tabou tribes in Southern Libya, Northern Chad and Niger was used to remove the compounds responsible for bitterness and to compare untreated bitter melon seeds (UTBMS) with conventionally treated bitter melon seeds (TBMS) to benefit from their application in food technology. The TBMS contains higher levels of protein, fat, minerals and micronutrients than the UTBMS. TBMS showed a higher concentration of essential amino acids than UTBMS. The fatty acid composition of both UTBMS and TBMS contained a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with linoleic acid being the most abundant fatty acid in both. The content of the total phenolics and flavonoids, as well as antioxidant activity was decreased in the TBMS compared to UTBMS. The study also found that the phenolic profile of both extracts contains phenolics and flavonoids. Sensory evaluation results showed that tahini made entirely from sesame seeds had higher acceptability scores compared to tahini made entirely from TBMS. However, sensory evaluation results showed no significant differences between tahini with added 40% and 20% TBMS. There were no significant differences also between them and 100% sesame. Thus we can prepare healthy tahini with 60% sesame seeds and 40% TBMS.