Pumpkin seed oil is a culinary oil, used especially in central Europe.
Pumpkin seed oil is a culinary oil, used especially in central Europe.
This oil is a culinary specialty from what used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now southeastern Austria (Styria), eastern Slovenia (Styria and Prekmurje), Central Transylvania, Orăștie-Cugir region of Romania, north western Croatia (esp. Međimurje), Vojvodina, and adjacent regions of Hungary. It is also used worldwide, including North America, Mexico, India and China. [1]
Pumpkin seed oil has an intense nutty taste and is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Browned oil has a bitter taste. Pumpkin seed oil serves as a salad dressing. The typical Styrian dressing consists of pumpkin seed oil and cider vinegar. The oil is also used for desserts, giving ordinary vanilla ice cream a nutty taste. It is considered a delicacy in Austria and Slovenia, and a few drops are added to pumpkin soup and other local dishes. Using it as a cooking oil, however, destroys its essential fatty acids. [2]
Oil from pumpkin seeds is extracted by solvent extraction or by supercritical carbon dioxide methods. [3] Once the oil is obtained, further specific extractions may be done, such as for carotenoids. [3]
Styrian oil – an export commodity of Austria and Slovenia – is made by pressing roasted, hull-less pumpkin seeds from a local variety of pumpkin, the "Styrian oil pumpkin" ( Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo var. 'styriaca', [4] [5] also known as var. oleifera). High-temperature roasting improves the aromatic quality of pumpkin seed oil. [6]
The viscous oil is light to very dark green to dark red in colour depending on the thickness of the observed sample. The oil appears green in thin layers and red in thick layers, an optical phenomenon called dichromatism. [7] Pumpkin oil is one of the substances with the strongest dichromatism. Its Kreft's dichromaticity index is -44. [8] When used together with yoghurt, the oil turns bright green and is sometimes referred to as "green-gold".
Other types of pumpkin seed oil are also marketed worldwide. International producers use white seeds with shells and this produces a cheaper white oil. New producers of seeds are located in China.
An analysis of the oil extracted from the seeds of each of twelve cultivars of C. maxima , related, yet different pumpkin species, yielded the following ranges for the percentage of several fatty acids: [9]
| n:unsat | Fatty acid name | Percentage range |
|---|---|---|
| (14:0) | Myristic acid | 0.09-0.27 |
| (16:0) | Palmitic acid | 12.6-18.4 |
| (16:1) | Palmitoleic acid | 0.12-0.52 |
| (18:0) | Stearic acid | 5.1-8.5 |
| (18:1) | Oleic acid | 17.0-39.5 |
| (18:2) | Linoleic acid | 36.2-62.8 |
| (18:3) | Linolenic acid | 0.34-0.82 |
| (20:0) | Arachidic acid | 0.26-1.12 |
| (20:1) | Gadoleic acid | 0-0.17 |
| (22:0) | Behenic acid | 0.12-0.58 |
The sum of myristic and palmitic acid content ranged from 12.8 to 18.7%. The total unsaturated acid content ranged from 73.1 to 80.5%. The very long chain fatty acid (> 18 carbon atoms) content ranged from 0.44 to 1.37%.
The oil is localised in the small lipid droplets in the cotyledon cells. [10]
Cucurbita is a genus of herbaceous fruits in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five edible species are grown and consumed for their flesh and seeds. They are variously known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd, depending on species, variety, and local parlance. Other kinds of gourd, also called bottle-gourds, are native to Africa and belong to the genus Lagenaria, which is in the same family and subfamily as Cucurbita, but in a different tribe. These other gourds are used as utensils or vessels, and their young fruits are eaten much like those of the Cucurbita species.
Cucurbita pepo is a cultivated plant of the genus Cucurbita. It yields varieties of winter squash and pumpkin, but the most widespread varieties belong to the subspecies Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo, called summer squash.
Bromophenol blue, albutest is used as a pH indicator, an electrophoretic color marker, and a dye. It can be prepared by slowly adding excess bromine to a hot solution of phenolsulfonphthalein in glacial acetic acid.
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. Oil made from raw seeds, which may or may not be cold-pressed, is used as a cooking oil. Oil made from toasted seeds is used for its distinctive nutty aroma and taste, although it may be unsuitable for frying, which makes it taste burnt and bitter.
Dichromatism is a phenomenon where a material or solution's hue is dependent on both the concentration of the absorbing substance and the depth or thickness of the medium traversed. In most substances which are not dichromatic, only the brightness and saturation of the colour depend on their concentration and layer thickness.
Straightneck squash is a cultivated variety of Cucurbita pepo grown as a type of summer squash that is usually yellow-colored. It is also known as yellow squash, though other squashes, such as crookneck squash, may also be known by that name. It has mildly sweet and watery flesh, and thin tender skins that can be left on the fruit for many types of recipes. It was almost certainly domesticated in the eastern United States, although other variants of the same species were domesticated in Mesoamerica. This squash grows on vined plants reaching 60–90 cm (2.0–3.0 ft) in height that thrive in mild weather. It is well known as an item in American cooking where it is fried, microwaved, steamed, boiled, or baked. It is often used in recipes interchangeably with zucchini. A good yellow summer squash will be small and firm with tender skin free of blemishes and bruising. It is available all year long in some regions, but is at its peak from early through late summer. One similar inedible C. pepo variety is C. pepo var. ovifera.
A pumpkin seed, also known in North America as a pepita, is the edible seed of a pumpkin or certain other cultivars of squash. The seeds are typically flat and asymmetrically oval, have a white outer husk, and are light green in color after the husk is removed. Some pumpkin cultivars are huskless, and are grown only for their edible seed. The seeds are nutrient- and calorie-rich, with an especially high content of fat, protein, dietary fiber, and numerous micronutrients. Pumpkin seed can refer either to the hulled kernel or unhulled whole seed, and most commonly refers to the roasted end product used as a snack.
Egusi, also known as agusi, ohue, Ikpan, Ikon, agushi or mbíka) is the name for the protein-rich seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants, which, after being dried and ground, are used as a major ingredient in West African cuisine.
Cucurbita moschata is a species originating in either Central America or northern South America. It includes cultivars known as squash or pumpkin. C. moschata cultivars are generally more tolerant of hot, humid weather than cultivars of C. maxima or C. pepo. They also generally display a greater resistance to disease and insects, especially to the squash vine borer. Commercially made pumpkin pie mix is most often made from varieties of C. moschata. The ancestral species of the genus Cucurbita were present in the Americas before the arrival of humans. Evolutionarily speaking the genus is relatively recent in origin as no species within the genus is genetically isolated from all the other species. C. moschata acts as the genetic bridge within the genus and is closest to the genus' progenitor.
Crookneck squash, also known as yellow squash, is a cultivar of Cucurbita pepo, the species that also includes some pumpkins and most other summer squashes. The plants are bushy and do not spread like the plants of winter squash and pumpkin. Most often used as a summer squash, it is characterized by its yellow skin and sweet yellow flesh, as well as its distinctive curved stem-end or "crooked neck". It should not be confused with crookneck cultivars of Cucurbita moschata, such as the winter squash 'Golden Cushaw', or the vining summer squash 'Tromboncino'. Its name distinguishes it from another similar-looking variety of C. pepo, the straightneck squash, which is also usually yellow. There is one similar non-edible C. pepo variety: C. pepo var. ovifera.
Candlenut oil or kukui nut oil is extracted from the nut of Aleurites moluccanus, the candlenut or kuku'i.
Sea buckthorn oil is a red-orange oil derived from sea buckthorn plants. The most commonly used species for this purpose is Hippophae rhamnoides. Species belonging to this genus accumulate lipids in the mesocarp, so the oil can be extracted from either the seeds or the pulp.
Cucurbita foetidissima is a tuberous xerophytic plant found in the central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has numerous common names, including: buffalo gourd, calabazilla, chilicote, coyote gourd, fetid gourd, fetid wild pumpkin, Missouri gourd, prairie gourd, stinking gourd, wild gourd, and wild pumpkin. The type specimen was collected from Mexico by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland sometime before 1817. In Latin, foetidissima means ill smelling.
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus Cucurbita that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term pumpkin is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for cultivars of Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo.
Kreft's dichromaticity index (DI) is a measure for quantification of dichromatism. It is defined as the difference in hue angle (Δhab) between the color of the sample at the dilution, where the chroma is maximal, and the color of four times more diluted and four times more concentrated sample. The two hue angle differences are called the dichromaticity index towards lighter and dichromaticity index towards darker respectively. Kreft's dichromaticity indexes DIL and DID for pumpkin seed oil, which is one of the most dichromatic substances, are −9 and −44, respectively. This means, that pumpkin seed oil changes its color from green-yellow to orange-red when the thickness of the observed layer is increased from cca 0.5 mm to 2 mm; and it changes slightly towards green if its thickness is reduced for four-fold.
Cucurbita argyrosperma, also called the cushaw squash and silver-seed gourd, is a species of winter squash originally from the south of Mexico. This annual herbaceous plant is cultivated in the Americas for its nutritional value: its flowers, shoots, and fruits are all harvested, but it is cultivated most of all for its seeds, which are used for sauces. It was formerly known as Cucurbita mixta.
Single cell oil, also known as Microbial oil consists of the intracellular storage lipids, triacyglycerols. It is similar to vegetable oil, another biologically produced oil. They are produced by oleaginous microorganisms, which is the term for those bacteria, molds, algae and yeast, which can accumulate 20% to 80% lipids of their biomass. The accumulation of lipids take place by the end of logarithmic phase and continues during station phase until carbon source begins to reduce with nutrition limitation.
The Future 50 Foods report, subtitled "50 foods for healthier people and a healthier planet", was published in February 2019 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Knorr. It identifies 50 plant-based foods that can increase dietary nutritional value and reduce environmental impacts of the food supply, promoting sustainable global food systems.
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