Physicochemical characterization of raw oils from some sonoran desert leguminous seeds

© 1995 CSIC Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. All rights reserved. The Sonoran desert has a great variety of nutritional native plants, mainly from the leguminous family. Although in ancient times their products were used as food by native Americans, there is little information about their potential as a food source. For this reason, oils from the following seeds were studied: Acacia famesiana (huizache), Mimosa grahamii (gatuña), Cercidium microphyllium (palo verde 1), Cercidium sonorae (brea), Parkinsonia aculeata (palo verde 2), Olneya tesota (palo fierro) and Prosopis juliflora (mezquite). Oils were extracted from the seeds with hexane, and contents ranged from 8.5 to 23.5 %. The physicochemical studies showed mostly unsaturated oils, as demonstrated by the iodine index, (101-147 units). Indeces of acidity, peroxides and free fatty acids were low and within the accepted values. Fatty acids were separated and quantified by gas chromatography. Linoleic and oleic acids were found to predominate. All extracted crude oils were of good quality, comparable to those from soybean, com, sunflower and carthamus.