Abstract

Moringa oleifera, a very rapid growing tree found growing in a varying range of climatic condition is a promising tree and has the potential to become a new source of oil. Nutritional importance of moringa oil as the capability to be in addition with olive oil in the market, which is being imported. The present research was designed to extract and evaluate the properties of moringa oil. Moringa oil was extracted by traditional method of cold press and evaluated for its physic-chemical properties like rancidity, viscosity, peroxide value, free fatty acid content, smoking point, tocopherol content and fatty acid composition. According to literature moringa oil, a high mono unsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid) oil which resembles olive oil in properties was compared with olive oil. The physico-chemical properties of moringa oil were analysed three times and the values obtained were subjected to student’s t test and significant difference of moringa oil compared with olive oil.

Authors and Affiliations