Chemical composition of peanut

Peanuts are appreciated worldwide as an affordable, flavorful and nutritionally dense snack food, while also serving as a primary ingredient for peanut butter, confections and nutritional bars, among other finished products.

Since the uniquely delicate and attractive flavor of roasted peanuts and peanut products is principally dependent upon the composition of the raw peanut. On macro level, peanut seeds contain about 6% moisture (after storage), 25% protein, 50% oil, 15% carbohydrates, 2% fiber and 2% ash.

Broken down to their individual components, peanuts contain a variety of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and fatty acids. Many of these components have been shown to benefit human health.

Moisture content is perhaps the most critical factor in the harvesting, drying, storing and marketing of peanuts. Roasting of peanuts, either dry or oil roasting, results in reduction of moisture to below 2%.

The carbohydrate composition in most peanut products tends to have low sugar content with relatively high dietary fiber content, which results in a low glycemic index.

The fatty acids in peanut oil (80-83% unsaturated and 17-20% saturated) are responsible for it stability in cooking/deep frying and its shelf life stability. The unsaturated fatty acids consist of oleic (monoun- saturated) and linoleic (polyunsaturated) acids, with lesser amounts of eicosonoic and nervonic acids. The high ration of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats is similar to olive oil, an oil that promote heart heath.
Chemical composition of peanut