Caigua (in Brazil "maxixe do reino") is a fruit that is generally consumed either cooked or even raw as salad. This fruit has been used as a food and also in folk medicine. In this work, the mineral composition of Caigua was determined for the first time. Twenty-nine samples from five farms located in the southwestern region of Bahia, Brazil were acquired and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The elements determined in this fruit included calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, zinc, copper and vanadium. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied to evaluate the obtained results. The average concentrations of the determined elements (expressed as mg 100 g(-1)) were as follows: 0.91 for sodium, 152 for potassium, 19.4 for phosphorus, 11.9 for calcium, 8.4 for magnesium, 0.074 for manganese, 0.21 for iron, 0.013 for copper, 0.13 for zinc and 0.015 for vanadium.

Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was used to determine the elements present in Chinese cabbage (Beta vulgaris). The accuracy of the method was confirmed by analysis of a certified reference material of spinach leaves. The study involved 57 samples that were collected in 13 Brazilian cities. Average concentrations of elements found per gram of Chinese cabbage were as follows: 3.44 mg g −1 sodium, 5.09 mg g −1 potassium, 1.25 mg g −1 phosphorous, 0.85 mg g −1 calcium, 0.49 mg g −1 magnesium, 2.79 μg g −1 manganese, 9.50 μg g −1 iron, 0.74 μg g −1 copper, 14.28 μg g −1 zinc, and 6.44 μg g −1 strontium. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis demonstrated that there is no systematic difference in the mineral composition between the cabbage samples that were analyzed.