Peanut Processing and It's Potential Food Applications

Peanut is one of the most important oil and protein producing crops in the world. Most peanuts grown in the world are used for oil production, peanut butter, confectionaries, roasted peanuts and snack products, extenders in meat product formulations, soups and desserts. Being a source of good fat namely poly and monounsaturated fatty acids, they are also used in weight management diets as they provide satiety. The substantial amounts of by-products are generated in the process of peanut harvest and peanut oil extraction. A large portion of peanut meals, skins, hulls, and vines is regarded as the agriculture wastes. With respect to its high nutritive value especially being an excellent source of protein it can also be incorporated in many food preparations as supplementary food and emergency foods which can be supplied to populations suffering from hunger and malnutrition especially in the developing and underdeveloped countries. Earlier, many researchers focused on the investigation of producing and utilising edible oil and kernel. Since very little attention was given to the other by-products of peanut processing, at present, researches are carried out to improve the utilisation of other by-products other than oil and raw kernel as are proved to be having important nutritional and health benefits. This paper briefly describes various peanut by-products produced. Materials, processing, and potential applications in food manufacture of emerging materials, as are also briefly discussed.