Proximate Composition and Utilization of Napoleona imperialis Fruits.

Abstract

Wild fruits abound in forests of south eastern Nigeria which are not properly utilized. These fruits are occasionally consumed by locals not because they knew the content of such fruits but rather because their fore fathers consumed such fruits in the past. It is against this background that Napoleona imperialis was studied to determine its proximal composition and possible economic utilization. The pulp of the fruit was analyzed proximately using standard methods for carbohydrate, fat, crude fibre, protein, ash content and moisture content and was used for the production of fruit jam.

The proximate analysis showed that the pulp contains 9.9% carbohydrate, 1.0% fat, 5.05% fibre, 1.3% protein, 0.35% ash and 87.5% moisture while the jam contained 15.7% carbohydrate, 0.2% fat, 2.5% fibre, 0.4% protein, 0.25% ash and 80.5% moisture. Flame photometric analysis showed that the jam contained 0.16g/mg sodium and 0.13g/mg potassium.

Key words: Napoleona imperialis, fruit products, proximate analysis.