摘要：The proximate chemical composition of freshly harvested mature conophor nut ( Tetratcarpidium conophorum Mull. (Arg) Euporbiaceae) showed that it contains on a dry weight basis, 29.09% protein, 6.34% fibre, 48.9% oil, 3.09% ash and 12.58% carbohydrates. The elemental concentrations in the raw conophor nut showed it has a high phosphorus content (465.95 mg/100g); cadmium and nickel were very low (0.01 and 0.38 mg/100g, respectively). Two methods of processing were applied to the mature nuts, namely, cooking for 2 h and toasting in hot sand at 100 oC for 30 min. Antinutritional factors in the raw, cooked and toasted nuts were determined. Cooking brought about significant (P functional properties of the full-fat raw and processed forms were examined, alongside those of defatted raw conophor nut. The highest values for water absorption capacity (186.64%); oil absorption capacity (168.70%) and foaming capacity (8%) were recorded for the defatted raw conophor nut. The lowest protein solubilities or the iso-electric points for the samples occurred at pH 4 (full-fat raw nut), pH 3 (cooked nut) and pH 4 (toasted nut) and pH 6 (defatted raw nut). The results show that defatting brought about an improvement in the functional characteristics of the oilseed. Also, cooking enhanced its functional significance.
