Obtaining Moringa oleifera seed flour and its adequate presentation for human consumption

Abstract

The consumption of the different parts Moringa oleifera stimulates endogenous antioxidants and combats the excessive production of free radicals. The seed cake obtained as a subproduct of the oil extraction, has high nutritional value. To obtain flour from Moringa seed cake for human consumption. Moringa seeds from India subjected to oil extraction of the oil by cold pressing. Four variants treatment were evaluated to extract the remaining oil that to obtain the flour. Drying was carried out in an oven at 42 °C until the humidity reached a value lower than 1 %. It was ground and through a 1.0 mm mesh in a blade mill. The vegetable protein content of the seeds cake was 37,23 %, vegetable fiber 15,75 %, ashes 11,76 % and starch 20,23 %. Treatment of the cake with ethanol (96 % v/v) facilitated the drying process in less time and with a lower final moisture value. In the scaling-up of the process to 2 kg, the drying showed the same behavior and made it possible to obtain the flour with a 1,0 mm sieve. 500 mg capsules of seed flour were manufactured for future studies. The developed procedure made it possible to obtain Moringa seed cake flour with high potential for use.