Chemical Composition and Functional Properties of Egyptian Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Mucilage

Basiony, A. M.; Atta, M. B.; Abd-Elazim, E. I.; Mohamed, A. S.

doi:10.21608/ajar.2022.266499

Chemical Composition and Functional Properties of Egyptian Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Mucilage

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Food science and technology department, faculty of Agriculture, AL-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

² Food science and technology department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt.

10.21608/ajar.2022.266499

Abstract

The chemical composition and functional properties of mucilage extracted from Egyptian taro were studied. The mucilage's yield of Egyptian taro corms was 4.163%. The chemical compositions of the taro mucilage are 6.48, 6.78, 0.54, 6.01, 80.19 and 2.45 % for moisture, crude protein, ether extract, ash, total carbohydrates and crude fiber, respectively. The major amino acids are asparagine (14.9 gm/ 100 gm) glutamine (12.2 gm/ 100 gm), while cysteine (0.2gm/ 100 gm) was the minor amino acid. The major monosaccharides are glucose (22.51 µg/ gm) and fructose (20.11 µg/ gm), while the minor monosaccharide is arabinose (0.85 µg/ gm). The values of pH, solubility, swelling power, emulsion activity, emulsion stability, water absorption capacity and oil absorption capacity of taro mucilage are 6.06, 17.44%, 10.94%, 75.73 %, 93.90%, 4.5 ml/ mg and 1.50 ml/g, respectively. The high emulation activity and stability as well as water absorption capacity of the mucilage are desirable feature as safe emulsifier for natural food additives.

Keywords