Nutritional composition of five cultivars of chinese jujube

The proximate composition of five cultivars of Chinese jujube, along with mineral, vitamin and total phenolic contents were determined. Investigations showed that Chinese jujube contained 80.86–85.63% carbohydrate, 57.61–77.93% reducing sugar, 0.57–2.79% soluble fibre, 5.24–7.18% insoluble fibre, 4.75–6.86% protein, 0.37–1.02% lipid, 17.38–22.52% moisture and 2.26–3.01% ash. The soluble sugars of Chinese jujube included fructose, glucose, rhamnose, sorbitol and sucrose. Fructose and glucose were identified as the major sugars while sorbitol was present in much lesser amounts. Potassium, phosphorus, calcium and manganese were the major mineral constituents in Chinese jujube. Iron, sodium, zinc and copper were also detected in appreciable amounts. The contents of vitamin C, thiamine and riboflavin were found to be 192–359, 0.04–0.08 and 0.05–0.09 mg/100 g, respectively. Total phenolic contents ranged from 5.18 to 8.53 mg/g. No correlation between total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities or antioxidant capacities and vitamin C contents of Chinese jujube was found.