Abstract
Four Canadian varieties of potatoes were examined for their lipid composition. Lipids, extracted with chloroformmethanol, were shown by TLC and column chromatography to consist of 16.5% neutral lipids, 45.5% phospholipids and 38.1% glycolipids. Among the phospholipids and glycolipids, phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl inositol, the galactolipids and the sterol glucosides were the major lipids. The predominant fatty acids were palmitic (19.5%), linoleic (44.8%) and linolenic (30.4%, in Kennebec). Analyses of the fatty acids of stored potatoes showed a marked decrease in linoleic acid and an increase in linolenic acid, in the Irish Cobbler and Sebago potatoes. β-sitosterol comprised 85.0% of total sterols. Nearly half of the carotenoids was lutein (xanthophyll), the others being α-carotene, β-carotene, an unidentified pigment and lutein epoxide.