A Comparative Evaluation of Proximate Compositions of Boiled and Fermented Underutilised Melon Seeds: An Approach towards Alternative Substrates for Indigenous Soup Flavouring | Chapter 6 | Emerging Challenges in Agriculture and Food Science Vol. 1

A comparison of the proximate composition of five melon seed species boiled and fermented (Citrullus vulgaris (CV), Citrullus lanatus (CL), Colocynthis citrullus (CC), Cucurbita pepo (CP), and Cucumeropsis edulis (CE) is offered. Five different undehulled melon seed varieties were separated, cleaned, washed, and boiled in deep water for 3 hours, then cooled and dehulled by hand. The cotyledons were wrapped in blanched banana leaves (Musa sapientum), tied and pierced in three places with a fork, then boiled for another two hours, drained/cooled, and allowed to ferment at room temperature for 96 hours. For a second fermentation, the fermented seeds were mashed to a paste, wrapped with ofoala leaf (Icecina trichantha), and kept near a fire for another 144 hours. Following that, the boiled and fermented pulp samples of the melon seed kinds, as well as the microbial load, were analysed for proximate components. For ANOVA and mean separation, data were analysed statistically at p0.05 using SAS and WINDOW 7. When compared to raw melon seed samples, boiling somewhat lowered the protein content of the melon seeds from 19.63 percent (CP) to 26.73 percent (CE), which was further reduced during the first stage of fermentation (13.26-17.22 percent ). During the second stage of fermentation, however, there was a rise (17.22-22.86 percent). During boiling and fermentation, ash, crude fibre, carbohydrate, and fat were all minimally changed. Bacillus sp., Enterococcus sp., Staphylococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., and Serratia sp. were all isolated in the first stage of fermentation in all melon seed varieties. These alternate melon seeds could potentially be employed in the creation of food flavourings, according to the findings of this study.

Author (S) Details

A. I. Peter–Ikechukwu
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, West Africa.

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