By Ndubuisi, Linda Chinenyenwa
The food potentials of tigernut tubers (Cyperus esculentus) locally know as “aki awusa” in Igbo, ”aya” in Hausa and “ofio” in Yoruba were evaluated. The proximate composition of 100g of raw and processed tigernuts showed that moisture content of tigernuts ranged from 4.19 – 51.93 %, crude protein 2.61 – 10.12 %, ash 0.70 – 1.77 %, crude fibre 7.48 – 13.97 %, crude fat 10.79 – 32.06 %, and carbohydrate 22.73 – 56.85 %. Energy values ranged from 232.31- 487.15 Kcal. Tigernuts contain significant amounts of Mg (95.32 -140.96 mg), K (106.44 – 427.92 mg), P (121.78 – 195.95 mg), Fe (1.60 – 4.03 mg), Cu (0.08 – 0.99 mg), Zn (0.32 - 2.46mg), vitamin C (30.90 – 84.66 mg), vitamin E (2.22 – 5.26 mg), moderate Ca (24.42 – 62.29 mg) and low Na (15.77 – 18.27 mg) content. Processing of tigernuts generally increased carbohydrate but decreased magnesium and sodium values.