Etude comparative du ramollissement des fruits de l’aiélé (Canarium schweinfurthii Engl.) par voie humide et par voie sèche Original Research Article

A comparative study of the softening of aiele (Canarium schweinfurthii Engl.) fruits collected from five different locations in Cameroon have been carried out. The fruits were processed in water at 45 °C during 10–60 min, or in a dryer directly on grills, or in the dryer in opened or closed glass jars at 45 °C. Physicochemical characteristics were investigated during the softening. The optimum softening times varied between 40 and 60 min with 80–100% of the fruits softened into water or by direct drying. 120 min were necessary to obtain 60–100% of softened fruits in closed or opened jars. The softening rate (% of softened fruits per minute) exhibited a maximum that was observed after 30 and 60 min at 45 °C in water or in the dried methods respectively. Depending from the locations, losses in weight of fruits varied from 0.56% to 1.62% by direct drying, from 1.96% to 4.76% in opened jars, and from 0.04% to 0.58% in closed jars. Contrary, fruits softened in water showed a gain of weight of the fruit pulp varying between 1.30% and 3.21%. There was no significant difference between the total lipids, iodine and acid values of oils obtained by solvent extraction from crude and softened fruits.