Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

value. It also contains 14-18% albuminoid tannins located in the testa.
According to Purseglove (1987), the seeds contain 63% starch and 4.5-6.5%
of semi drying oil. Both pulp and the seeds are good sources of protein
(269.3 g/kg), oil (109.1 g/kg) and calcium (Ishola et al., 1990).
Table 2.6 Composition of tamarind seed, kernel and testa (%)
Constituent Whole seed Seed kernel Testa (seed
(cotyledons) coat)
Moisture 9.4-11.3 11.4-22.7 11.0
Protein 13.3-26.9 15.0-20.9
Fat/oil 4.5-16.2 3.9-16.2
Crude fibre 7.4-8.8 2.5-8.2 21.6
Carbohydrates 50.0-57.0 65.1-72.2
Total Ash 1.60-4.2 2.4-4.2 7.4
Nitrogen-free extract 59.0
Yield of TKP 50.0-60.0
Calories/100g 340.3
Total sugar 11.3-25.3
Reducing sugars 7.4
Starch 33.1
Tannin 20.2
Source: Anon (1976), Morad et al. (1978); Ishola et al. (1990);
Bhattacharyya et al. (1994)
Tamarind seeds are reported as a source of food or food ingredients due to
the presence of proteins (Marangoni et al., 1988). The crude protein and
nitrogen free extracts comprise 15.5% and 59% of the seed, respectively.
Pentose sugars constitute approximately 20% of the soluble sugars. Mannose
(17-35%) and glucose (11.80%) were the principal soluble sugars.
Alkali extraction of the seeds showed that about 70% of the proteins were
extractable. The protein isolated was relatively high in lysine (406 mg/g N),
phenylalanine, tyrosine (520 mg/g N) and leucine (496 mg/g N) (Marangoni
et al., 1988). The seeds are an important source of proteins and valuable
amino acids (Shankaracharya, 1998). Albumins and globulins constitute the
bulk of the seed proteins.
The seed is rich in cystine and methionine but threonine and tryptophan are
limiting (Table 2.7). Tamarind has a very good balance of essential amino
acids. Except for the limiting amino acids, threonine and tryptophan the
value of other amino acids is as high or higher than the FAO reference
protein (FAO, 1970). The content of sulphur amino acids, 3.5% is equally
divided between methionine and cystine, and is unusually high for legumes,
while its high lysine content is similar to that of many food legumes, such as
soybean, chickpea, groundnut and cowpea (FAO, 1970; de Lumen et al.,
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