Abstract:

In the present study, cashew nuts were analyzed for main chemical components. A comparative investigation of
different extraction methods for protein extraction from cashew nuts was made. The extraction process was optimized with
regard to solid-to-liquid (S/L) ratio, solvent pH, extraction temperature and time by single-factor and orthogonal array designs.
The results showed that crude fat was the most abundant component in cashew nuts with a level of 44.13%, which also
contained 22.91% carbonhydrates, 19.41% protein, 3.07% water and 2.45%. The best extraction efficiency was achieved using
alkali extraction and the best experimental conditions were found to be extraction at 35 ℃ for 1.5 h using an extraction solvent
at pH 9 with an S/L ratio of 1:40 (g/mL). Under the optimized conditions, the yield of protein was 79.0% with a purity of
86.62%. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the major subunits of cashew nuts protein had a molecular mass of 22 and 26.2 kD,
respectively, and 14.1- and 16-kD subunits and a small amount of 67.5- and 88-kD subunits were also observed.

Key words: cashew nuts, protein, nutritional components, optimized extraction, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)