Lipid Profiling of the Carob Fruit (Ceratonia Siliqua L.) Using GC/LC/QTOF Accurate Mass Spectrometry

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is a native of the Mediterranean basin with several applications in the food, textile and cosmetics industries [1]. It belongs to the Caesalpinaceae sub-family of the family Leguminoseae [2].The pods of the carob fruit have long been used as a feed for livestock and in human nutrition, including sweets, biscuits and processed drinks, because of its high sugar content and low price [3]. The world production of carob pods is 374,800 to 441,000 tones/year, the leading producer countries are Spain followed by Italy, Portugal, Morocco, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Algeria [4,5]. Carob pods are rich source of natural antioxidants which may, by different mechanisms, act as an effective defense against reactive oxygen species including free radicals such as superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals, and non-free radical species such as hydrogen peroxide. The two principal components of the carob fruit are the pulp and seed. The seeds represent 10% of the weight of the fruit and the pulp represent the other 90% of the fruit, crushed pods may be used to make a beverage, liqueur and syrup [6]. Image of the carob pods are shown in Figure 1.