Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

• M. Hosseini Nezhad ¹
• M. Nahardani ²
• A. H. Elhami Rad ³

¹ Assistant Profesoor, Department of Food Biotechnology, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology

² MSc. Graduated Student, Department of Food Science and Technology, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar Branch

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar Branch

Abstract

Prebiotic compound of inulin has been increasingly noticed by many researchers and food scientists for its functional and health breeding properties. Perennial plant of chicory (Cichorium intybus) is the commercial source of inulin production in Europe and Australia, while this plant is growing wildly in Iran as an annual crop and little studies has been done on its quality enhancement and properties. The aim of this project was to compare the inulin extracted from Iranian volunteer annual chicory with commercial inulin and that of some other plants including Jerusalem artichoke and perennial chicory which was originally from Hungary but cultivated in Iran. Inulin was extracted using hydrothermal extraction process followed by clarification and concentration. The concentrate was fractionated using ethanol precipitation. Physico-chemical analysis was carried out to determine its characterizations and polymerization degree. The most yield of inulin extraction was acquired from Jerusalem artichoke with 81.77% then perennial chicory with 79.02% and maximum polymerization was belonged to the perennial chicory with 41.9%. Results showed the superiority of inulin extracted from perennial chicory compared to our native plants in quality and revealed the necessity of more researches on plant localization in order to commercialize production of this prebiotic product.

Keywords

• Cichorium intybus
• Inulin
• Jerusalem artichoke
• Prebiotics