K e y words: Cyperus esculentis L, composition, amino acids. Tiger nut, Cyperus esculentis L, is a tuber that grows and is consumed widely in WestAfiica. It is eaten unprepared, soaked in water, or dried and mixed with roasted peanuts. The purpose of this work was to determine the composition of tiger nut as part of its nutritional evaluation.Tiger nuts bought from markets in Jos were cut, dried at 60°C and ground in a mill to pass through a 30 mesh sieve (AOAC 1975). Crude lipid, crude protein (N x 6*25), total ash and moisture values were determined according to AOAC (1975) procedures. Crude fibre was estimated by the method of Joslyn (1970) and the caloric value by an automatic adiabatic bomb calorimeter. The amino acid composition was determined by the method of Spackman et al (1958), tryptophan according to Mba et a1 (1974) and cysteine according to Gaitonde (1967). Calcium, magnesium and iron were determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and sodium and potassium by flame photometry.The proximate analysis of tiger nut is given in Table 1 and the amino acid composition in Table 2. The moisture content of 57.7 g kg-' suggests that the tubers lose considerable water during storage. The ash content of 18.6 g kg-' is within the usual range 154-30.0 g kg-' for nuts and tubers (Oyenuga 1968). The crude lipid (257.0 g kg -') was higher than for most nuts and tubers (Oyenuga 1968), but lower than for the African walnut (320.0 g kg-') (Itam et a1 1983). The crude protein (70-0 g kg-') was higher than in cassava roots, cocoyam and yam tubers (Oyenuga 1968), but within the range 504-100-0g kg-' for cluga, coconuts and 261 J Sci Food Agric 0022-5142/89/$03.50

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