Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Articles

Vol. 3 No. 1: June, 2015

The Impact of Fermentation on the Proximate and Mineral Composition of Phoenix dactylifera L Flour

Submitted
March 2, 2016
Published
2015-06-13

Abstract

Fermentation was carried out on Phoenix dactylifera L. fruit flour. Proximate
analysis and mineral analysis were carried out on both fermented and raw sample. The
proximate analysis (%) showed that the fermented sample contain higher composition
of Moisture, Ash, Crude fat, Crude fibre, and Crude protein except Carbohydrate (64.50
± 0.01) which is lower compared to the result obtained in the raw sample (76.23 ±
0.02). Mineral analysis (mg/l) of the samples depicted that fermentation increased the
Fe (7.64 ± 0.02), Mg (0.96 ± 0.00), Ca (6.26 ± 0.01) and Cu (0.16 ± 0.00) content
compared to that of raw Fe (2.17 ± 0.01), Mg (0.94 ± 0.01), Ca (3.13 ±0.07) and Cu
(0.13 ± 0.00) in the sample while the composition of Na (1.02 ± 0.90) and K (1.78 ±
0.01) decreased compared with the values of Na (1.28 ± 1.07) and K (2.21 ± 0.02)
obtained from the raw fruit flour. The result showed that fermentation transforms the
fruit flour into a probiotic food supplement through increased mineral, protein and fibre
content thereby enhancing digestibility. The pre-digested carbohydrate content in the
fruit flour during fermentation also makes it beneficial for people with diabetes.
Key Words: Fermentation, Phoenix dactylifera L, Proximate, Mineral.