Deepa Saini, Neha Rawat, Taru Negi, Riya Barthwal and SK Sharma

Apricot is an outstanding source of natural acids, vitamins, carbohydrates, phenolic compounds and minerals. Apricot kernels have been used in folk medicine as a remedy for various diseases. It can hence be utilized for edible purpose in different forms in food industry. Besides being high in nutrition apricot kernels also contains cyanogenic glucoside ‘Amygdalin’ which on hydrolysis generates hydrogen cyanide and can be toxic to human beings. So, in order to make them feasible for edible purpose it is required to detoxify them first. Detoxification can be looked at from two perspectives. First is when a toxin is consumed or toxins have been released in the meal, which is detoxification of the body, and second is when toxins are removed from the food itself, which is detoxification of food. Various researchers have studied on apricot kernel detoxification and its use in various forms. Present review deals with the explanation of phenomenon of Amygdalin biosynthesis, catabolism, detoxification of kernels and their utilization in food and other areas.

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