Processing, Nutritional Evaluation, and Utilization of Whole Mesquite Flour (Prosopis laevigata)

Abstract

Basic crops such as wheat and maize are not cultivated easily in the central highlands of Mexico, but pods of mesquite (Prosopis laevigata), a N2−fixing plant that dominates the vegetation, could be used as an additional food source. The physicochemical and functional properties and nutritional value of whole mesquite pod flour dried at 60 °C and 70 °C and muffins prepared with the mesquite flour were investigated. Drying temperature did not change the true protein concentration of the whole mesquite pod flour, that is, 97%. The digestibility for pod toasted at 70 °C was 78% compared to 77% at 60 °C, tannin content was 58% and 48% while trypsin inhibitor was 347 and 495 unit of inhibition (UI)/g sample, respectively. Functional characteristics of whole mesquite pod flour were similar to those of bean flour (Phaseolus vulgaris), and superior to those of whole wheat flour (Triticum sp). Mesquite proteins were high in tryptophan and histidine. Sensorial analysis scores for products made with whole mesquite flour were high. The results of this work suggested that whole mesquite pod flour could be used as a supplement for human consumption.

Chemical and nutritional characterization of raw and thermal-treated flours of Mesquite (Prosopis laevigata) pods and their residual brans

“…Pods and pods fractions of Prosopis species have been described in their nutritional profile: P. africana (Igwe, Ojiako, Anugweje, Nwaogu, & Ujowundu, 2012), P. alba (Cattaneo et al, 2016;Felker, Grados, Cruz, & Prokopiuk, 2003;Sciammaro, Ferrero, & Puppo, 2016), P. chilensis (Astudillo, Schmeda-Hirschmann, Herrera, & Cortes, 2000), P. glandulosa (Harden & Zolfaghari, 1988), P juliflora (Marangoni & Alli, 1988), P. laevigata (Barba de la Rosa, Frias-Hernandez, Olalde-Portugal, & Gonzalez-Castañeda, 2006; Gallegos-Infante, Rocha-Guzman, Gonzalez-Laredo, & Garcia-Casas, 2013), P. nigra (Felker et al, 2003), P. ruscifolia (Bernardi, Sanchez, Freyre, & Osella, 2010), and P. tamarugo (Astudillo et al, 2000); active compounds content and in vitro biological activity: P. alba (Cardozo et al, 2010;Cattaneo et al, 2016;Perez et al, 2014;Sciammaro et al, 2016), P. chilensis (Astudillo et al, 2000;Briones-Labarca, Muñoz, & Maureira, 2011;Schmeda-Hirschmann et al, 2015), P. laevigata (Gallegos-Infante et al, 2013), P. nigra (Cardozo et al, 2010;Perez et al, 2014), P. ruscifolia (Bernardi et al, 2010), and P. tamarugo (Astudillo et al, 2000); and in vivo biological activity: P. glandulosa (George, Lochner, & Huisamen, 2011;Huisamen, George, Dietrich, & Genade, 2013). Nutritionally, pods of Prosopis species are gluten free (Bernardi et al, 2010;Felker et al, 2013) and rich in good quality protein (Barba de la Rosa et al, 2006) or limited in sulfur amino acids (Felker & Bandurski, 1977;Fe...…”

“…The mesocarp of pods is rich in sugars (31%-50%), sucrose principally (Felker et al, 2013;Sciammaro et al, 2016). Trypsin inhibitors and phytohemagglutinins are present in seeds, which are denatured and inactivated upon heating (Barba de la Rosa et al, 2006;Gallegos-Infante et al, 2013). Pods of Prosopis species have been reported as a source of bioactive compounds (Felker et al, 2013;Schmeda-Hirschmann et al, 2015).…”

Effects of <i>Prosopis laevigata</i> pods on growth performance, ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites in finishing lambs

“…Authors have reported some variation in chemical composition of mesquite pods (de la Rosa et al, 2006) collected in a region with higher rainfall. Hence, some of the differences in the chemical composition may be due to climate or different soil conditions.…”

Physical and rheological characterization of seeds of three legume trees

“…This has produced initiatives to consider underutilized plants, especially in areas in which basic crops are hard to establish due to salinity or lack of water (Barba de la Rosa et al, 2006). Among these, the Chilean algarrobo (Prosopis chilensis (Mol) Stuntz) has an interesting potential for the development of arid zones.…”