Isolation and chemical evaluation of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) seed germ

The present investigation was undertaken in order to study the influence of the dehusking procedure on the germ meal composition of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) seeds and also to investigate its detailed composition and nutritive value. Meals of carob seed germ were obtained by acid treatment or boiling water treatment of the whole seeds. These procedures allowed to separation of the tight-fitting brown coat of the seed and the removal of the endosperm. Results indicated that the carob germ meal composition could be affected by the isolation procedures. Small reductions were observed in protein and lipid contents in germ meals from acid extraction. The analysis of the carob germ meal (containing fine fragments of husk and endosperm), which could be really obtained industrially, showed the following composition: moisture 8.3%, ash 6.5%, lipids (neutral and polar) 6.6% containing ∼21% of polar lipids, crude proteins 54.7% and energy value 17.5 kJ/g. acid (34.4%) and linoleic acid (44.5%) were the major fatty acids, while palmitic acid (16.2%) and stearic acid (3.4%) were the main saturated ones. Essential amino acids were present in very interesting amounts, according to the FAO standard except for a low content of tryptophan. The abundant protein fraction bands detected by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the carob germ protein fraction was extremely heterogeneous.