Profiles of amino acids and volatile organic compounds from dawadawa produced by defatting and fermentation of locust bean (P. biglobosa), soy bean (G. max) and roselle (H. sabdariffa) seeds

Free amino acids and volatile organic compounds generated in dawadawa produced by defatting and fermentation of locust bean (P. biglobosa), soy bean (G. max) and roselle (H. sabdariffa) seeds were profiled. The amino acids were determined using amino acid analyser, while the volatile organic compounds were analysed using Gas Chro-matography-Mass Spectrometry. The ground, defatted and fermented P. biglobosa and G. max seeds only showed slight increase in contents of essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids (arginine and glutamic acids). Serine and glutamic acids were the major amino acids in the ground, defatted and fermented seeds of P. biglobosa and G. max. The ground, defatted and fermented H. sabdariffa seeds showed minor differences in threonine, valiine, isoleucine, leucine and glutamic acids, compared with the full fat, ground and fermented seeds. Diverse volat-ile organic flavour compounds identified in dawadawa produced from P. biglobosa, G. max and H. sabdariffa seeds were acid-class flavour volatiles, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amides, carbonyl, esters, hydrocarbons and phenol. The ground, defatted seeds of G. max showed presence of various volatile organic compounds with n-He-xadecanoic acid, 9, 12- Octadecadienoic acid (Z, Z)- and 9-Octadec-enamide (Z)- of varying degree of abundance. For ground full fat and defatted seeds of H. sabdariffa, seven volatile organic compounds were detected, where six were unique to the H. sabdariffa seeds; and were detected irrespective of the seeds being defatted, or not, or fermented. Of the volatiles, hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester and eicosane increased in quantity for defatted and fermented dawadawa produced from H. sabdariffa seeds. Defatting of all three seeds generated amino acids and volatile organic compounds in dawdawa produced.Keywords: Amino acids, Volatile Organic Compounds, Dawadawa, Condiment, Fermentation, Defattin