Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour) Spreng.) Oil

Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour) Spreng.) fruit, originating from South-Eastern Asia, is considered as a superfruit thanks to the unequaled content of lycopene and other carotenoids of its arils. Direct uses of the fruit can be considered in cooking or traditional medicine, yet, most interesting and large-scale applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical require to extract the gac oil with its carotenoids content. Gac oil production is subject to an increase attention by the scientific and engineering domain, but is still in its infancy compared to other oils production. In this chapter, it is proposed to summarize the state of the art of gac oil processing by following the valorization chain. First, the properties of the fruit are presented. The steps used to store the fruit and produce the oil (drying, freezing, and oil extraction) are reported. For each step, the different known options are compared in terms of process conditions and quality of the oil. The properties of the gac oil are reported with an emphasis on the carotenoid content and antioxidant activities. Further processing of the oil (concentration, and carotenoids crystallization) is also addressed. The main existing and foreseen applications of gac oils are finally discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe