Evaluation of the Nutritive Importance of Fresh and Dry Cyperus esculentus (Tiger nut) available in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria (Published)
Fresh and dried Cyperus esculentus nuts were obtained from a local market (Sabo market) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. These nuts are chew, serve as snacks and used as sources of food and medicine in Nigeria. In this study; proximate, mineral content (using AAS), vitamins and sugar compositions were determined using standard methods [1] The results of the proximate composition revealed that the dry nuts contained higher amount of the nutrients present (fat 35.43 %, protein 9.70 % and ash 4.25 %) than the fresh nuts (32.13 %, 7.15 % and 3.97 %). The result of the mineral content shows that, calcium, iron and manganese were higher in the dry nut than the fresh nut.Sugar composition result shows that sucrose and glucose were the prominent sugar present and were higher in the dried nut than in the fresh nut.The result of the vitamin compositions revealed that vitamin A was equally present in both fresh and dried nut, while fresh nut contained higher amount of vitamin B1(2.25 mg/100g) and B3(3.47 mg/100g) other vitamins were in traces in both nuts.The result of this study showed that both fresh and dried nuts of C. esculentus are of high nutritional value based on their proximate, mineral, vitamin and sugar contents.