Characterization of piñon seed (Araucaria araucana (Mol) K. Koch) and the isolated starch from the seed

Araucaria (Araucaria araucana) is a conifer tree, endemic of Chile. The seed of this tree, named piñon are composed principally of starch. In this work, piñon seeds and the starch isolated from them were evaluated. The piñon seeds are composed of starch (64%), dietary fibre (25%), total sugar (7%) and very low concentrations of phenolic compounds, lipids, proteins and crude fibre. The process performed to isolate the starch from piñon was simple and easy to realize at laboratory scale, with a yield of 36%. Starch represents a 77% of the isolated starch. The amylose content was 42%. Lipids, protein and crude fibre were very low. The starch hydration properties increased with the temperature. In the 6% suspension of starch, viscosity increases during the cooling period. The starch granules of piñon were small and round shaped. The aspects evaluated in this research, suggests that piñon seeds can be considered an interesting new starch source for the food industry.