Abstract
The objective of the study was to evaluate the chemical characteristics
of cold-pressed beech nut oil. The nuts collected from the forest
consisted of 25.35% water, 13.19% oil, and 19.40% protein. Dominant
fatty acid was linoleic (40.5%) followed by oleic (35.0%) and gondoic
acid (7.7%). All four tocopherols were present in the oil with dominant
γ- tocopherol 99.38 mg 100g-1 oil. Total sterol content was 2708.73 mg
kg-1 oil with β-sitosterol accounting for 80.5% of all sterols. The
oil’s main characteristics were the relatively high content of
tocopherols and gondoic acid, dominant oleic-linoleic fatty acid
profile, and higher levels of carotenoids.