Amygdalin Contents of Oil and Meal from Wild Almond: Effect of Different Heat Pretreatment and Extraction Methods

The effects of different heat treatment methods on the extraction yield of oil and the amygdalin contents of the wild almond meal and oil were investigated. When using hexane as a solvent for the extraction, oil yield and amygdalin contents of the extracted oils increased by increasing the applied temperature as the pretreatment (46.1-51.6%, w/w, for oil yield and 26-49 mg/100 mL oil for the amygdalin content). When using mechanical oil extraction, hot-press resulted in higher oil yield (23.2%) than did the cold-press (15.6%) but the amygdalin levels of the extracted oils were not significantly different (12.8-12.9 mg/100 mL oil). Autoclaving ground wild almond and hot-press resulted in a significant increase in the peroxide and acid values of the oils. Investigation of fatty acid profiles of different samples showed that heat treatment and extraction method in this study did not impact the fatty acid profiles of the extracted oils.