You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
Telfaria occidentalis (Fluted Pumpkin) is a tropical crop belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. It is a cultivar of a squash plant. The thick shell contains the seeds and pulp. Fluted pumpkin shapes ranges from round to oblong among varieties and size. It is an important staple vegetable grown in Nigeria. The plant produces luxuriant edible green leaves, which are rich in iron and vitamins. It seeds are used for propagation, extraction of oil and as soup condiment in thickening fluid soup. The seed oil provides many health benefits when consumed and can be used to produce other edibles. Seeds were taken out of pod, the shell was removed, seeds were further cut into bits and allowed to dry, then seeds were grinded and oil was extracted from the powdered seed using a cold press oil extraction machine. The levels of crude protein (24.69%), crude fat (38.01%), moisture (6.25%), total ash (4.64%),crude fibre (2.76%), carbohydrate (23.66%), Specific gravity (30°C) (0.9935g/cm3), refractive index (1.4725), viscosity (30°C)(48.90cSt) and density (0.94kg/m³), detected in the seed oil were compared with nutritional composition of some plant foods in Nigeria. The results revealed that the seed could be a good source of nourishment to both man and animals. The properties of the extracted oil indicated that it could also serve as a good raw material to the soap, pharmaceutical and food industries.
