Content area
Full Text
KEYWORD: Carotenoids, Fruit, Physico-chemical properties, Serendipity berry
ABSTRACT: This study evaluates the physico-chemical properties of serendipity berry. Physico-chemical properties of the serendipity berries were analyzed. The total number of berries in a bunch of fruit ranged from 45 to 98. This depends on the size of the bunch. The results revealed the dry matter, moisture, soluble solids and vitamin C to be 19.56%, 80.44%, 11.20% and 12.80mg/100g respectively. Titratable acidity and pH were 0.21 % and 6.6 respectively. The number of berries per bunch ranged from 45-98 and the 10-fruit weight was 5.30g. Total carotenoid value was 2.01 mg/100g in the fruit. The fruits have appreciable amount of total soluble solid which could serve as a source of energy. Serendipity berry fruits compared relatively with other fruits used in the fruit industry. © JASEM
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v18 i2.10
Introduction: Serendipity berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii) is a tropical rainforest vine. It belongs to the order Ranunculales and the family, Menispermaceae. The genus Dioscoreophyllum belongs to the tribe, Tinosporeae comprising D. cumminsii and D. volkensii (Oselebe and Nwankiti, 2005). The intense sweetener of the fruit of Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii, called the serendipity berry, was revealed to be a protein (Inglett, 1976). Monellin is a sweet protein from the fruit of "serendipity berry" (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii), a tropical plant native to West Africa (Wlodawer and Hodgson, 1975). This protein is the sweetest known naturally occurring substance, up to 3,000 times sweeter than sucrose, and approximately 100,000 times as potent as sugar on a molar basis (Inglett and May, 1969, Faruya et al., 1983, Penarrubia et al., 1992). Monellin could thus replace sugar in foods for diabetics and dieters (Oselebe and Nwankiti, 2005). D. cumminsii also has many medicinal values: the tubers, stems, and leaves are used in indigenous medicine (Irvine, 1961; Oselebe and Nwankiti, 2005). In Nigeria, the plants grow in the relatively undisturbed rainforest areas of southern Nigeria (Oselebe and Ene-Obong, 2007). Fruits generally, are needed in our life as part of nutrition component and have many beneficial effects on human health, e.g. as the source of dietary antioxidants (Azlan et al., 2009). Serendipity berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii) is among the unpopular and under-utilized fruit found in the forest towards the end of the raining season. The properties of this fruit have...