A chemical study of the fruits of three south african <i>Ximenia</i> species, with special reference to the kernel oils

Abstract

Abstract The average composition of the fruits was found to be: fruit pulp 81%, hull 4% and kernel 15%. The high acidity of the fruit juice, 8.6%, was accounted for entirely by citric acid. The kernels contained 64‐65% of oil, 18‐20% of protein and 4% of fibre. In addition to the acids already found by other workers, a tetracosenoic and an octacosenoic acid were isolated from the kernel oils and a hydroxyoctadecanoic acid was found in the hydrogenated acid mixture from one species. The component acids of the oils from the three species, which were similar in composition, included oleic acid (32.5‐40.5%), ximenynic acid (22‐24.3%), tetracosenoic acid (3.0‐7.0%), hexacosenoic (ximenic) acid (3.5‐8.7%), octacosenoic acid (4.7‐12.2%) and triacontenoic (lumequeic) acid (3.0‐7.0%).