The pulp/arils of ackee (Blighia sapida) were oven/freeze dried, processed into full fat and defatted flours and analyzed for some physicochemical and functional properties. Moisture, crude fat, crude protein, crude fibre, ash and carbohydrate content of the flours ranged from 4. .29 mg/100 g) and zinc (1.99-3.55 mg/100 g) were the most and least abundant minerals, respectively. Functional properties ranged from 24.09 to 39.45% solubility, 11.03 to 23.02% swelling power, 111.75 to 139.57% oil absorption capacity, 4.33 to 5.67% foaming capacity, 76.34 to 84.35% foam stability, 61.67 to 69.17% emulsion capacity and 5.83 to 46.67% emulsion stability. Generally, defatted flours had higher values for proximate composition and functional properties than the full fat flours. Oven dried ackee aril flours had higher emulsion activity and stability suggesting their potential application in foods such as, mayonnaise, yogurt, ice-cream, sausages and processed meats.

The limited information on the health and nutritional benefits of edible arils of the ackee (Blighia sapida) tree makes it underutilized in West Africa. This study was to investigate the nutrient content, total phenols, antioxidant activity and phytochemical constituents of freeze and oven dried ackee arils. Phytochemical analysis was done using standard protocol whereas antioxidant activity and total phenol content was determined using the DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteau methods, respectively. The minerals content was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The moisture, crude fat, crude protein, crude fibre, ash, carbohydrate and energy content were in the range of 4.83-5.20%, 51.60-56.66%, 10.94-11.67%, 3.63-3.88%, 8.01-8.56%, 14.41-20.62% and 590.67-614.26 kcal/100g, respectively. The ackee arils also contained appreciable minerals (Ca, P, Mg, Na, K and Zn) with K (425.10-475.71 mg/100g) being the highest while Zn (1.95-2.08 mg/100g) was the least mineral. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, saponins and glycosides in the arils. The total phenolic content was 5235.04±103.9 and 5175.38±178.46 mg GAE/100g in oven-dried and freeze-dried samples, respectively. The vitamin C content was 29.6 and 35.7 mg/100 g whereas antioxidant activity was 66.0 and 29.4 % DPPH inhibition (with trolox equivalence of 91.0±9.4 and 40.6±0.6 µM TE/g) in the oven and freeze dried ackee arils, respectively. Drying method had effect on the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of the ackee flour sample. The findings suggest that ackee aril had considerable total phenols content and antioxidant activity, which implies that the fruit aril has the potential for application in food systems to maintain food quality.