86 International Journal of Agricultural and Food Science 2013, 3(3): 86-89 ISSN 2249-8516 Original Article Properties of industrial fractions of sesame seed (Sesamum indicum L.) Anil Bukya and T.Poongodi Vijayakumar* Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Periyar University, Periyar Palkalai Nagar, Salem-636011, TamilNadu, India *Corresponding author: Dr.T.Poongodi Vijayakumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Periyar University, Periyar Palkalai Nagar, Salem-636011, TamilNadu, India Email: poonvija@gmail.com Received 19 June 2013; accepted 14 July 2013 Abstract Whole sesame seed (WSS) was extracted for its oil using grinding press and defatted using hexane as solvent to obtain sesame cake (SC) and fully defatted sesame flour (DSF) respectively. The seed, cake and defatted flour as oil extraction industrial fractions were determined for its physical, functional, thermal properties and proximate composition to study the quality changes on industrial processing of sesame seed. Sesame cake showed significantly (p<0.05) low bulk density and greater porosity than whole seed and defatted flour. On removing fat, water holding and oil holding capacity of sesame flour were increased significantly at p<0.01. Foaming capacity was high for whole seed flour and at pH 8. The buffering capacity of defatted sesame flour was greater in alkaline medium than in acidic medium. Whole sesame seed consists of 18.3 g% of protein while defatted sesame seed flour contains 47.28 g% of protein. The thermal degradation temperature was increased on removal of fat. Sesame cake was further processed to remove the traces of oil and solvent if any and utilized as a low-cost composite flour component for supplementary food preparation. © 2013 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved Keywords: Whole sesame seed (WSS), Sesame cake (SC), Defatted sesame flour (DSF), Proximate composition, Physical, Functional, Thermal properties 1. Introduction Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is a short duration crop grown throughout the year which belongs to the family pedaliaceae. It is called as “Queen of oil seeds” because of its excellent qualities of the seed, oil and meal. Sesame is one of the most important oilseed crops, cultivated in India, Sudan, China and Burma, which are the major sesame- producing countries, contributing to 60% of the global yield [1]. Sesame seed contains 50% of oil and 25% of protein [2]. Brown or black seeded are valued more for oil extraction, whereas white seeded are rich in iron. Sesame seeds are digestive, rejuvenative, antiaging and rich in vitamins E, A and B complex and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, zinc and potassium. The oil rich in linoleic acid can be readily hydrogenated to medium melting fats for use in margarines, shortenings and vanaspathi, make the sesame nearly perfect food [3]. The sesame meal or cake is by-product after oil extraction. The defatted sesame meal is good source of nutrients, containing approximately 50% protein. One of the principal characteristics of this protein is its high methionine and tryptophan content [4] that distinguishes sesame from other oil seeds. This meal has high potential for use as a protein source or as an ingredient in the food industry. For plant proteins to be useful and successful in food application, they should ideally possess several desirable characteristics, referred to as functional properties, as well as providing essential amino acids [5]. Few studies have been done on the characterisation of sesame seed and proteins from defatted sesame meal [6]. Thus it is very important to explore functional potentiality and fundamental knowledge on properties of whole sesame seed and by products from oil industry. The present study was aimed to explore the characteristics of whole sesame seed, de-oiled cake and fully defatted sesame flour. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Materials Whole sesame seed (WSS) were purchased from supermarket at Salem, TamilNadu, India. Seeds were thoroughly cleaned to free them from dirt, foreign matter, stubble, mould, rot and other infestation, washed with water and sundried. Sesame cake (SC) was obtained by extracting the oil from the whole sesame seed in an oil mill (traditional press method), solar dried and milled into flour. To obtain fully defatted sesame flour (DSF), sesame cake was repeatedly extracted with α-hexane till the fat content reduced to less than 0.05 %. Available online at http://www.urpjournals.com International Journal of Agricultural and Food Science Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved