Chemical and physicochemical properties of moringa flours and oil

This work evaluates the chemical and physic-chemical properties of moringa seed flour and oil. The moringa seed were divided into two portions. The first portion was milled into flout while the second portion was defatted using soxlet extraction method. The moringa cake was milled into flour. Proximate, mineral, anti-nutritional compositions were carried out on the flour samples while the physico-chemical properties of the oil were evaluated. The moisture content of the moringa seed cake was slightly higher than that of raw moringa flour. It ranged from 4.70-5.03% . The moringa seed cake also had higher values in the ash, crude fibre, protein and carbohydrate contents. The undefatted moringa seed flour had higher fat content of 45.84 %. Moringa cake flour had higher values in all the mineral contents determined. The phytate, oxalate and tannin contents of the defatted moringa seed flour were higher than the undefatted flour. Acid, peroxide and saponification values were 7.09 mg/g, 5.96 Meq/kg and 80.31 mg/g respectively. The lower iodine value signifies low degree of unsaturation and the lesser the liability of the oil to become rancid by oxidation. The defatted cake could be used in fortification of other food materials.