Physicochemical properties and thermal behaviour of African wild mango (Irvingia gabonensis) seed fat. Issue 2 (December 2015) - Yamoneka, J.
Abstract African wild mango (Irvingia gabonensis) is now recognized for its numerous food and medicinal uses. This plant produces seeds rich in fat, which is traditionally used as a soup thickener. In the present study, the fat from Irvingia gabonensis seeds was solvent extracted and characterized. Besides a chemical characterization (fatty acid (FA) and triacylglycerol (TG) profiles), the melting and crystallization behaviour of the extracted fat was studied by complementary techniques: pNMR, DSC and X-ray diffraction in order to get basic information regarding its physical properties and more particularly, about its polymorphism. The seeds from Irvingia gabonensis (IG) represent an important source of lipids (69–75 g/100 g), rich in myristic (49.8%) and lauric acid (37%). Due to its FA composition, this fat can be classified among "lauric fats". The melting profiles of IG fat indicates that a high amount of fat remains solid at temperatures up to 30 °C; the complete melting was detected at around 40 °C. The most stable polymorph of this fat is the β′1-form. Moreover, IG fat presents a good oxidative stability due to its low content in unsaturated fatty acid.