CHEMICAL PROFILE OF COLD PRESSED BEECH NUT (Fagus Sylvatica L.) OIL

The objective of the study was to evaluate the chemical characteristics of cold-pressed beech nut oil. The nuts collected from the forest consisted of 25.35% water, 13.19% oil, and 19.40% protein. Dominant fatty acid was linoleic (40.5%) followed by oleic (35.0%) and gondoic acid (7.7%). All four tocopherols were present in the oil with dominant γ- tocopherol 99.38 mg 100g-1 oil. Total sterol content was 2708.73 mg kg-1 oil with β-sitosterol accounting for 80.5% of all sterols. The oil’s main characteristics were the relatively high content of tocopherols and gondoic acid, dominant oleic-linoleic fatty acid profile, and higher levels of carotenoids.