Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Flour from the Wild Edible Mushroom Termitomyces heimii Natarajan Harvested in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, especially, in Côte d'Ivoire, the wild edible mushroom Termitomyces heimii Natarajan is the most prized and widely consumed for different reasons such as taste, flavour, attractiveness, uses as substitutes for meat or fish and medicinal values. The present study was aimed at evaluating the proximate composition and functional properties of T. heimii flour for further food products formulation. Fresh mushroom T. heimii were obtained from the market of Aboisso (5° 28′ 06″ N and3° 12′ 25″ W) in Côte d'Ivoire. The fresh mushrooms were dried and ground to obtain the crude flour. Chemical composition and functional properties were investigated using standard methods. The chemical composition revealed that it contains crude protein about 23.75%, crude fat 3.58%, moisture 11.59 %, ash 7.40%, total carbohydrate 54.70% and energy value of 345.90 kcal/ 100 g. These results suggest that T. heimii can be used in human diet to prevent undernourishment due to protein. Furthermore, the low fat content suggest that it would be an ideal food for obese persons and useful in preventing hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. The functional properties showed that it has high bulk density and water absorption capacity with values of 0.737 g/mL and 315.15 ± 45.74% respectively. This flour exhibited also good foaming properties. All these characteristics make it suitable as good thickeners in food products, useful in foods such as bakery products which require hydration and attractive for products like cakes or whipping topping where foaming is important. The mushroom T. heimii could be utilized for making some low-fat foodstuffs and snacks with considerable protein content. The mushroom flour shows good functional characteristics for use in many food industries.

Evaluation of Starch Components, Pasting and Functional Properties of PleurotusTuberregium Flour from Air Dried Sclerotia

“…As regards OAC, the value obtained in this research was higher than OAC of P. tubberregium flour (0.22ml/g) reported by Kolawole, et al [28]T. hemii (125.25%=1.2525g/g) Due, et al [38] but lower than OAC A. bisporus (548.3%=5.483g/g) and P. ostreatus (462.6%=4.626g/g) [1]. Variation in OAC of flour from different food items could be influenced by differences in non-polar side chains of proteins which bind hydrocarbon side chain of the oil through hydrophobic interactions [42].…”

“…Its bulk density (BD) was 0.4g/ml. This value was higher than BD of 0.29g/ml reported for Pluerotus tubberregium flour by Kolawole, et al [28]Agaricusbisporus (0.22g/ml) and Pluerotus ostreatus (0.28g/ml) reported by Ishara, et al [1] but lower than BD of Termitomyces heimii (0.74g/ml) reported by Due, et al [38]. Bulk density is influenced by the structure of starch polymers and loose structure of starch polymer could result to low bulk density [39].…”

“…EA of P. tuberregium flour was lower than EA of wheat flour (43.88) [33] while its ES (45.12%) was higher than ES of wheat flour (38.38%) [33]. Foam capacity (FC) obtained in this study (7.27%) was lower than FC of T. heimii flour (16.67%) Due, et al [38] pearl millet (11.30%), quinoa flour (9%) [43] as well as wheat flour (12.92%) [33]. The foam stability (FS) obtained in this study (31.55%) was lower than FS of species of P. ostreatus flour which ranged between 45.7% and 66.8% [44] but higher than FS reported for wheat flour (1.94%) [33].…”

Nutritional and Functional Properties of Mushroom (<i>Agaricus bisporus</i> &amp; <i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i>) and Their Blends with Maize Flour

“…Compact density (CD) was measured according to the method reported by Due et al [20]. 10g of the sample was weighed into a measuring cylinder.…”

“…Mushrooms can provide balancing diet compounds in sufficient quantities for human nutrition [20]. They also have high content of fibers and low cholesterol content [13,21].…”