THE EFFECTS OF GRINDING, SOAKING AND COOKING ON THE DEGRADATION OF AMYGDALIN OF BITTER APRICOT SEEDS

More than 650 metric tonnes of bitter apricot seeds are produced in Tu rkey per year as a by-product from the fruit canning industry. The see ds contain the toxic cyanogenic glycoside amygdalin in amounts up to a round 150 mu mol/g fresh weight. The effect of grinding, soaking and c ooking on the degradation of amygdalin to prunasin, benzaldehyde cyano hydrin and HCN, has been studied, as has the release of these cyanides into the soaking water. Analysis for total cyanogenic potential (TCP) , cyanogenic glycosides and non-glycosidic cyanogens were thus made on a number of differently processed seed batches. The parameters were: particle size, soaking time and temperature, the presence of a natural microflora, and the duration of cooking. Great reductions were obtain ed for all three values measured, i.e. from the initial TCP of 85 mu m ol/g and down to around 2-4 mu mol/g. However, none of the products ob tained were considered safe for human consumption, i.e. a further micr obiological detoxification must be added.