Okra fruits and baobab leaves are just two examples of foods used to give a mucilaginous
quality to West African food dishes. The mucilages were extracted from both
foods and purified. Preliminary studies have been conducted to characterise the
mucilages chemically, as well as study their viscous behaviour in relation to their use in
West African dishes. Both mucilages are acidic polysaccharides with associated
protein and minerals. Neither the quantity of protein nor minerals were significantly
reduced during purification. The protein was not separated from the polysaccharide
by either gel chromatography or disc electrophoresis. Hydrolysis of okra mucilage
revealed that the polysaccharide was composed of galacturonic acid, galactose,
rhamnose and glucose (1.3 : 1 .O : 0.1 : 0.1). Baobab mucilage on hydrolysis was found
to contain mainly galacturonic and glucuronic acids with minor quantities of galactose,
rhamnose, glucose and arabinose (1 1.7 : 11.3 : 1 .O: 0.6 : 0.4: 0.1). The mucilages
form viscous solutions at low concentrations (5-10 g/litre). They attain maximum
viscosity in the neutral pH range. However, the mucilage solutions are not stable to
heat and lose much of their viscosity when heated.
Okra fruits and baobab leaves are just two examples of foods used to give a mucilaginous
quality to West African food dishes. The mucilages were extracted from both
foods and purified. Preliminary studies have been conducted to characterise the
mucilages chemically, as well as study their viscous behaviour in relation to their use in
West African dishes. Both mucilages are acidic polysaccharides with associated
protein and minerals. Neither the quantity of protein nor minerals were significantly
reduced during purification. The protein was not separated from the polysaccharide
by either gel chromatography or disc electrophoresis. Hydrolysis of okra mucilage
revealed that the polysaccharide was composed of galacturonic acid, galactose,
rhamnose and glucose (1.3 : 1 .O : 0.1 : 0.1). Baobab mucilage on hydrolysis was found
to contain mainly galacturonic and glucuronic acids with minor quantities of galactose,
rhamnose, glucose and arabinose (1 1.7 : 11.3 : 1 .O: 0.6 : 0.4: 0.1). The mucilages
form viscous solutions at low concentrations (5-10 g/litre). They attain maximum
viscosity in the neutral pH range. However, the mucilage solutions are not stable to
heat and lose much of their viscosity when heated.
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