International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition

Authors
Gomathy Sethuraman, Nur Marahaini Mohd Nizar, Fatin Nadia Muhamad, Tengku Adhwa Syaherah Tengku Mohd Suhairi, Ebrahim Jahanshiri, Peter J Gregory, Sayed Azam-Ali

Abstract
The diverse underutilised crops of Malaysia are a largely unexplored potential source of food and nutritional security. This study investigated Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni, which is considered as a rare underutilised crop found locally. The yellow pulp fruit is commonly known as canistel or “kuning telur” by the local population. The fruits were obtained from Taman Pertanian University, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The pulp of the fruits was oven dried at 105°C until constant weight prior to the analysis for its macronutrients, sugar and vitamin C profile. The analysis found 52.96%, 40.19%, 1.16%, 4.97%, 2.12% and 0.71% of moisture, carbohydrate, protein, fat, fibre and ash content respectively. The energy reported in 100g of the fruit was 210kcal. The naturally sweet-tasting fruit contained 2.7%, 3.3% and 15.6% of fructose, glucose and sucrose respectively and had a vitamin C concentration of 6mg/100g. These superior attributes of the fruit compared with some commercially available dried fruits indicate that there is potential for it to be further explored for use in snack, bakery, confectionery and dairy industries.