Extraction and Valorization of Tiger Nut Oil and By-products
Summary
Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) tubers have emerged as a versatile resource for edible oil and high-value co-products. The oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids—predominantly oleic acid—along with tocopherols and plant sterols, conferring stability and nutritional appeal. Conventional extraction techniques such as cold pressing and solvent leaching yield moderate oil recovery but may compromise bioactive content. Emerging methods including aqueous enzymatic extraction and subcritical fluid extraction offer higher yields and improved retention of antioxidants, albeit with increased technical complexity. Beyond oil, the residual meal retains starch, dietary fibre, proteins and polyphenols; these by-products have been valorised into functional flours, bioactive extracts and fermentable substrates. Optimisation of process parameters (temperature, solvent composition, enzyme dosage) has enabled selective recovery of phenolic compounds, enhancing antioxidant capacity and potential health benefits. Valorisation strategies span food additives, nutraceutical ingredients, animal feed supplements and even green biofuels, supporting a circular-economy framework. Attention to scalability, life-cycle impacts and regulatory compliance remains critical to translating laboratory advances into commercial practice. Collectively, research over the last decade has established tiger nut as a sustainable crop delivering both superior oil quality and a spectrum of value-added co-products, reinforcing its global significance in agri-food innovation and resource efficiency.
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Extraction and Valorization of Tiger Nut Oil and By-products publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in extraction and valorization of tiger nut oil and by-products across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Cold pressing: Mechanical extraction of oil at ambient temperature, preserving heat-sensitive compounds but yielding lower oil recovery.
Solvent leaching: Use of organic solvents (e.g., hexane) to dissolve oil from ground material, achieving higher yields but requiring solvent removal.
Aqueous enzymatic extraction: Application of specific enzymes in water to degrade cell walls and release oil and bioactives, offering a solvent-free route.
Subcritical fluid extraction: Use of fluids (commonly CO₂) at elevated pressure and moderate temperature to solubilise oil, affording high selectivity and reduced thermal degradation.
Polyphenols: A diverse class of plant-derived phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties, often co-extracted with oil or recovered from by-products.
Bioaccessibility: The fraction of a compound that is released from the food matrix during digestion and becomes available for absorption.
References
- Effects of different extraction methods on the physicochemical properties and storage stability of tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) oil. LWT (2023).
- Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus L.): Nutrition, Processing, Function and Applications. Foods (2022).
- Effect of Enzyme Pre‐treatments on Bioactive Compounds in Extracted Tiger Nut Oil and Sugars in Residual Meals. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society (2016).
- Influence of Temperature, Solvent and pH on the Selective Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Tiger Nuts by-Products: Triple-TOF-LC-MS-MS Characterization. Molecules (2019).
- Potential bioaccessibility and bioavailability of polyphenols and functional properties of tiger nut beverage and its by-product during in vitro digestion. Food & Function (2024).
- Enhancing Bioactive Antioxidants’ Extraction from “Horchata de Chufa” By-Products. Foods (2018).
- New Advances in the Phenolic Composition of Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) by-Products. Foods (2022).
- Some physico-chemical properties, fatty acid compositions, macro-micro minerals and sterol contents of two variety tigernut tubers and oils harvested from East Mediterranean region. Food Science and Technology (2019).
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