engleski

Nutritional profile of butternut squash pulp, dried pulp and by products

Global production of pumpkin (family Cucurbitaceae) has increased in the past year due to various consumption alternatives. Pumpkin can be consumed raw or cooked, baked, frozen, dried, crystallised, and freeze-dried. One of the most commonly used pumpkin processed products is flour, as it can be stored for a long time. As a natural colour additive, it can be added to baked goods, soups, sauces, and instant noodles to not only increase the content of various nutrients, but also improve their flavour. The simultaneous separation of pumpkin pulp for different uses results in large amounts of waste fractions, i.e. peel and seeds. From a nutritional point of view, the pumpkin pulp, pumpkin flour, peel and seeds are valuable sources of proteins, fibres, sugars, minerals, etc. Considering their functional properties and benefits for human health, the main objective of this work was to study the quality parameters of pumpkin pulp (Cucurbita moschata, "butternut" pumpkin), dried pulp and by-products in order to compare which of them represent nutrient-rich sources. In this context, dry matter, crude ash, crude fat and crude fibre were analysed in all pumpkin fractions. The drying process was carried out with air at 50 and 60 °C and a speed of 1.0 m/s. The results showed that pumpkin peels and pulp had significantly higher moisture content (90.43 and 91.56 %) than the dried pulp samples (11.9 - 18.62 %) and seeds (5.44 %). On the other hand, dried fruit pulp samples contained high ash content (7.91 - 8.23 %), followed by pulp (0.78 %), skin (1.22 %) and seeds (4.83 %). The fat and total fibre contents are particularly high for pumpkin seeds, 35.57% and 24.86%, respectively. The high fat (1.90 %) and fibre (16.68 %) contents are also found in the shell compared to the pulp and dried pulp. The pulp contains 1.30 and 12.79 % fat and fibre, respectively. The dried pulp contains between 0.39 and 0.43% fat and 10.37 to 12.23% fibre, depending on the drying temperature. In conclusion, all the pumpkin components studied in this work can be considered a valuable source of nutrients. For example, the dried samples with low moisture content extended the shelf life of pumpkin and due to their high ash content are an excellent source of minerals. Considering that seeds and peels are usually discarded, both by-products are interesting from a nutritional point of view due to their high fat and fibre content. Finally, the pulp, with its high moisture content, could be considered a useful source of water intake as part of a balanced diet.

pumpkin pulp, dried pumpkin ; pumpkin by-products ; chemical composition

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