ABSTRACT

The bioactive ingredients of three Nigerian spices: Cocoplum (Chysobalanus icaco), African black pepper (Piper guineense) and Aidan fruit (Tetrapleura tetraptera) blends were comparatively assessed in this study. The spices were separately washed with cold water, air dried at room temperature (27±2)^oC ,milled, sieved (2mm) and formulated into 9 samples :20:15:65, 56:24:20, 75:15:10, 0:0:100, 47:42:11, 100:0:0, 47:15:38, 29:25:46 and 0:100:0% Cocoplum, African black pepper and Aidan fruit spices) as derived from mixture design of Design Expert-6.0.8 Software. The spices were subjected to proximate, mineral, vitamin, antioxidant and bioactive analysis in duplicates using standard analytical methods. Analysis of variance was carried out on the data obtained using Statistical Package of Social Science version 17.0. Result of proximate analysis revealed the moisture content(8.83 to 14.62%),crude protein(5.41 to 10.92%),crude fibre (0.95 to 8.5%),fat (6.37 to11.55%),ash(3.84to10.34%)and carbohydrate(52.62 to 71.45%)content of the spices. The mineral content of the spices showed that phosphorus ranged from 14.63 to 87.93mg/100g,calcium ranged from 19.77 to54.04mg/100g,magnesium ranged from 15.03 to 34.24mg/100g,sodium ranged from 5.86 to18.77mg/100g,whereas iron, manganese and potassium within 1.27 to 3.51mg/100g,4.38 to 21.68 mg/100g manganese, and 10.44 to54.63 mg/100g respectively. Result of vitamin content revealed the pro-vitamin A (1.56 to 7.07 µg/100g), thiamin(0.25 to9.04 mg/100g),riboflavin(0.38 to 4.52 mg/100g), ascorbic acid (0.74 to16.39 mg/100g).The bioactive compounds of the spices revealed that tannin ranged from 0.37 to1.74 mg/100g,flavonoid ranged from 2.06 to 5.82 mg/100g,alkaloid ranged from 1.63 to 4.06 mg/100g,phenol ranged from 0.33 to 1.05 mg/100g,saponin ranged from 0.65 to 2.02 mg/100g, steroid ranged from 0.13 to 0.40 mg/100g,terpenoid ranged from 0.12 to 0.38 mg/100g,whereas trypsin inhibitor ranged from 0.15 to 0.43 mg/100g.Result of the antioxidant properties showed that FRAP ranged from 10.07 to 20.77 mg/100g whereas DPPH ranged within10.52 to 40.28%.It can be deduced from this study that nutritious spices can be processed from blends of Indigenous and underutilized crops like Cocoplum, African black pepper and Aidan fruit.