A new eco-friendly defatting process of peanuts by mechanical expression preserving structure integrity (MEPSI)
This article represents a scientific approach to the environment-friendly and energy saving processes which incited us to develop a new efficient, healthy, economical and less polluting defatting process. In this paper, mechanical oil extraction was conducted on peanuts by preserving their structure integrity and the process was followed by a quantitative and qualitative study on the physicochemical properties of the defatted grains in order to investigate the best extraction parameters. The described extraction process coupled to a reconstitution process by Intensification of Vaporization by Decompression to the Vacuum (IVDV) showed that the optimal conditions are 5% d.b. initial water content, 2 days at 4°C of homogenization period, pressing at around 10 MPa (at room temperature) for 3 to 4 min most preferably at a compression speed of 8mm/sec, using the appropriate process modification to avoid structure damages and loss of deteriorated seeds, then reconstituting by IVDV with a pressure of 0.9MPa applied for 10 sec on hydrated peanuts to 10% d.b.
An eco-friendly process for the preservation of natural nutritious sprouts
In an era where plants based and healthy diets are more adopted by the consumers and where the environment-friendly processes are are prevailing, preservation of nutritious natural sprouts by a time and energy saving treatment prompted us to conduct this study. Optimization of the germination of common wheat and Kamut grains was first presented. Reduced imbibition times of 3 and 5 hours were obtained for wheat and Kamut grains respectively with less water consumption. Then an optimal germination duration of 7 days was determined for both grains by monitoring the lipids, proteins, vitamins B2, B6, E and $\beta$-carotene contents during germination. Afterwards these sprouts were treated by Intensification of Vaporization by Decompression to the Vacuum (IVDV) and hot air dried to a water content of 4%. The effect of this treatment on the nutritional content of the sprouts and their drying kinetics were then studied. IVDV was proved to preserve the vitamins content of sprouts while saving around 8 hours of hot air drying.
Assessment of some agro-technological parameters of cactus pear fruit ( Opuntia ficus-indica Mill . ) in Morocco cultivars
Cactaceae had always attracted attention by their strange shapes and important adaptability supporting extreme conditions. For this reasons, Fruit traits were measured on 13 cultivars growing in different locations in Morocco. Results show significant differences between the cultivars. The source of this variation was probably genetic without excluding the geographic effects. The Tamri, Berkan, Ait Baha cultivars showed small fruit dimensions and weight. In contrast, Sidi-Ifni M, Nador, Mohammedia and Ben Guerir were greater than 100 g by fruit. Sidi-Ifni M, Hoceima, Mohammedia and Nador, although larger, contained few seeds, about 200 seeds per fruit; while Tamri, Ait Baha, Safi, Meknes and Tafraout contained over than 230 seeds per fruit. High levels of juice about 62 ml/100 g pulp were obtained with Sidi-Ifni M, Nador, Mohammedia and Ben Guerir cultivars. Total sugars of the 13 cultivars were quite similar and pH was low in Tamri and close to neutrality in the rest of cultivars. Therefore, oil extracted from Opuntia ficus-indica seeds constituted 13.6% of the whole seed. Thin-layer chromatography in conjunction with gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed a relatively high degree of unsaturation, 83.32% and 16% for saturated fatty acid, with a linoleic acid content of 63.66% followed by oleic 18.34%, palmitic 12.84% and stearic acid 2.81%. Based on these results, O. ficus-indica seed oil appears to be a good potential source of edible oil for human and (or) animal consumption. Our investigation describes that Tamri and Tafraout cultivars are not really a commercial viable fruit due to low total soluble solids value and highest seeds number per fruit. Against Mohammedia, Sidi Ifni M and Nador cultivars proved to have the highest fruit weight, very good total soluble solids value and low number of seeds, these cultivars can therefore be planted for both fruit production and for harvesting of cladodes for animal feed.