Physical and nutritional properties of black monkey orange fruit and seeds: A preliminary analysis for food processing

Kiana Kirsty van Rayne; Oluwafemi Ayodeji Adebo; Obiro Cuthbert Wokadala; Lucky Sithole; Nomali Ziphorah Ngobese

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0268628

Physical and nutritional properties of black monkey orange fruit and seeds: A preliminary analysis for food processing

PLoS One. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0268628. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268628. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kiana Kirsty van Rayne¹, Oluwafemi Ayodeji Adebo², Obiro Cuthbert Wokadala³, Lucky Sithole⁴, Nomali Ziphorah Ngobese¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
³ School of Agriculture, University of Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Abstract

Strychnos madagascariensis is an underutilized South African fruit-bearing tree, with the pulp being the primary consumable component. However, the seeds hold the potential as a food source due to their high nutrient composition. The aim of this study was to determine the physical properties of S. madagascariensis fruit and seeds to aid in food processing equipment development. Fruit physical properties were determined at four progressive ripening stages, as well as the seed physical properties and mineral composition. The pulp contributed the most towards fruit composition across stages of ripeness (c 50%), followed by the rind (c 30%) and seeds (c 20%). Furthermore, significant variations in seed physical properties were observed at progressive maturity stages. The seeds showed significantly greater mineral compositions in unripe-green fruit in comparison to fruit at progressive ripening stages. The data provided may serve as a basis for the development of processing procedures and equipment and suggests that seeds of unripe-green fruit hold greater nutritional benefits.

MeSH terms

Food Handling
Fruit*
Nutritive Value*
Seeds*
Strychnos*

Grants and funding

We wish to declare that the reported study was funded by the National Research Foundation (Grant number: 119725) and the University of Johannesburg’s Research Committee (URC) grant for Faculty Strategic Intervention. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Nomali Z. Ngobese and Oluwafemi A. Adebo are salaried employees of the University of Johannesburg. Ms Kiana K. van Rayne received a FoodBev SETA bursary while conducting the work reported in this paper.