Consideration on Nutritional Value of Fruit Wastes. Note 2: Crude Chemical, Vitamin C and Mineral Contents.

The residues of apple, plum, and pear contain a diverse range of crude chemical components like proteins, lipids, ash, fiber, or nitrogen-free matters, which contribute to the nutritional content, flavor, and functional characteristics of the waste materials. The aim of the present trail was to emphasize a comparative picture of apple, pear and plum wastes nutritional composition with literature data concerning whole fruit. In this aim, crude chemical composition, mineral nutritional composition, and vitamin C were quantified from waste samples collected from a regional specific area, Transylvania, Romania. The crude chemical composition was determined according to Weende scheme, vitamin C using volumetry, iron and macroelements using spectrophotometry, and flamephotometry. The means, standard deviations, and coefficient of variation were calculated using STATISTICA v.8.0 for windows software. The apple wastes have the highest nutritional value from the point of view of chemical crude content, while plum wastes the lowest. The mineral and vitamin C contents show similar nutritional values among fruit wastes, but pear wastes exhibit higher levels of phosphorus, potassium, and vitamin C, whereas plum wastes show elevated levels of calcium and magnesium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]