MSc

The genus Garcinia belonging to the family Clusiaceae is an underutilized
perennial tree found throughout the tropics of Asia and Africa. Garcinia species such
as cambodge (Garcinia gummi-gutta) and kokum (Garcinia indica) are commercially
exploited as condiments to flavour a range of food preparations. Cambodge is grown
widely in the homestead of Kerala, whereas kokum is cultivated as a traditional
homestead crop in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, Goa and coastal and southern
interior parts of Karnataka. The economic part of both cambodge and kokum is dried
fruit rind. Plenty of seeds after fruit rind collection go as waste and only limited seeds
are utilized for seedling production. It is essential to evaluate the seeds for
biochemical and nutritional factors, butter recovery as well as physico-chemical and
nutritional properties of butter. In this context, the present study was undertaken with
the objective to characterize the physico-chemical and nutritional properties of seed
and seed butter in cambodge and kokum. The experiment was carried out in the
Department of Plantation, Spices, Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, College of
Agriculture, Vellanikkara. Three high yielding accessions of each cambodge and
kokum were selected from the department farm and college orchard of the College of
Agriculture, Vellanikkara, and ICAR-NBPGR, Regional Station, Vellanikkara.
The significant difference was recorded among the accessions of cambodge
and kokum seed powders for most of the biochemical characters and also between
cambodge and kokum. The total carbohydrates, protein and total ash contents were
significantly higher in cambodge seed powder (13.33 g/100 g ,1.28 g/100 g and 2.53
%) when compared to kokum seed powder (4.56 g/100 g, 0.42 g/100 g and 2.36 %),
respectively. Whereas, in kokum seed powder significantly higher moisture content
(11.45 %), total fat (40.28 %) and dietary fibre (4.55 %) were recorded.
In the case of cambodge and kokum seed powders, all accessions exhibited
significant differences in nutritional characters except for iron content. There was a
significant difference in mineral composition between the cambodge and kokum seed
powders. Calcium and iron contents were significantly higher in cambodge seed
powder (163.20 and 16.20 mg/100 g) than that of kokum seed powder (48.30 and
14.30 mg/100 g), respectively. Whereas, potassium and sodium contents were
significantly higher in kokum seed powder (608.50 and 32.10 mg/ 100 g) when
compared to cambodge seed powder (478.40 and 15.00 mg/ 100 g), respectively.
The recovery of butter ranged from 37.25 (petroleum benzene) to 44.98
(acetone) per cent in cambodge and 40.29 (petroleum ether) to 49.61 (acetone) per
cent in kokum using different solvents. Butter recovery in cambodge and kokum were
found higher in acetone compared to other solvents. But the appearance of butter was
found good when extracted using petroleum ether. In both cambodge and kokum,
butter extracted through the hot water skimming method ranged from 22 to 25 per
cent.
The seed butter extracted using petroleum ether was employed for physicochemical analysis. Among the cambodge accessions, a significant difference was
recorded for the physico-chemical properties of butter except for refractive index,
peroxide value and ester value. Whereas in kokum, all the accessions showed
significant differences in physico-chemical properties except for ash content, iodine
value and peroxide value. Moisture content, melting point, ash content, saponification
value, iodine value and ester value were significantly superior in cambodge butter
(0.40 %, 39.17 ℃, 0.139 %, 188.70 mg KOH/g, 57.05 g/100 g, 183.20 mg KOH/g)
compared to kokum butter (0.15 %, 37.94 ℃, 0.116 %, 180.00 mg KOH/g, 37.95
g/100 g, 174.40 mg KOH/g), respectively. The oil content and peroxide value of
butter were significantly higher in kokum (99.85 % and 5.81 meq/kg) than that of
cambodge (99.60 % and 4.39 meq/kg), respectively. No significant difference was
observed for refractive index, pH and acid value between cambodge and kokum
butters.
Among the cambodge accessions, significant difference was observed for
nutritional composition in the seed butter. In kokum accessions, significant difference
was recorded for nutritional composition except for sodium content. The significantly
higher value for potassium content was recorded in cambodge (32.80 mg/100 g)
compared to that of kokum (18.30 mg/100 g). Whereas for sodium content,
significantly higher value was recorded in kokum butter (17.60 mg/100 g) when
compared to cambodge butter (14.90 mg/100 g). No significant difference was
recorded in calcium and iron contents between cambodge and kokum butters.
The fatty acid profiling of seed butter in cambodge and kokum exhibited six
prime fatty acids. In cambodge and kokum butters, high percentage (99) of long-chain
fatty acids viz. stearic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid were recorded. Stearic acid in
cambodge butter ranged from 36.06 (acetone) to 50.76 per cent (petroleum ether),
whereas in kokum butter, it ranged from 32.06 (acetone) to 62.54 per cent (petroleum
benzene) using different solvents. Oleic acid percentage in cambodge butter ranged
from 46.28 (petroleum ether) to 61.37 (acetone) per cent, and in the case of kokum
butter it ranged from 35.59 (petroleum ether) to 65.43 per cent (acetone). The
compounds such as palmitic acid, myristic acid, lauric acid and capric acid were also
identified in smaller proportions in cambodge and kokum butter.
In the organoleptic evaluation, cambodge and kokum butters were compared
with milk and cocoa butters, which revealed that milk butter was superior in all the
organoleptic qualities. Whereas, cambodge and kokum butter were significantly
superior in quality attributes like appearance (7.69 and 7.53) and colour (7.58 and
7.82) compared to cocoa butter (6.82 and 6.64), respectively. Value added products
viz. burfi and cake were prepared using cambodge, kokum, cocoa and milk butters.
Organoleptic evaluation of value added products revealed that the burfi and cake
prepared using milk butter was most accepted with a total score of 57.34, which was
followed by burfi and cake of cambodge (55.48 and 53.11) and kokum (52.46 and
54.53), respectively. Both cambodge and kokum seed yield butter of food grade
having high biochemical and nutritional properties which can be used in the food,
pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors.