Valorization and Chemical Constituents Assessments of Khalas Dates Fruit, Syrup and Pits

Abstract

This study was conducted to contribute to the national approach to achieving food security in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the world's largest producer of dates. Studying the chemical properties of the most commercial date’s fruits cultivar in the eastern region will contribute to understanding to industrial potential Khalas dates. This is in addition to developing a method for extracting date syrup (DS) in a way that preserves as much nutritional properties as possible. Date fruits (DF) flesh and water mixture at a 1:3 ratio gave 18% total soluble solids (TSS) then concentrated to 70° Brix. The used date flesh to water ratio recaptured all sugars, acetic, butyric and propionic acids in DS. Sugars were the major components amounting 34.3 and 32.6% glucose and fructose, respectively. No crude or dietary fibers were present in DS due to their insolubility in water. In contrast, the major portion of minerals was recovered in DS. In the same way, 60% and 4.9% of the fat and protein respectively were recovered in the DS. It also notes that the main amino acid in DS is glutamic acid which represents 16.25 % of the total detected amino acids. In concentrated DS a total polyphenol (PP) tenor of 1448.65 mg/100 g gallic acid equivalent (GAE) was recovered. The presence of large amounts of PP in DS compared to whole dates can be explained by the use of high temperature DS extraction with vacuum evaporation of excess water. Crude and dietary fibers were the major components in date pits (DP) representing 24.1% and 56.1% respectively. Fat and sucrose were also present in a significant portion in DP showing 5.9% and 2.4%, respectively. Therefore, the results obtained will serve many food and nutrition industries as well as the pharmaceutical and therapeutic industries.