Edible wild vegetable products in the Zambezian woodland area: A nutritional and ecological approach

Local processing and nutritional composition of indigenous fruits: The case of monkey orange (Strychnos spp.) from Southern Africa

“…(16) This appears to result from inaccuracies due to the applied methodology as carbohydrates were determined by an indirect method, namely the difference method. Also, the reported protein range for S. innocua was remarkably wide, namely from 0.3 g/100 g dw (22) to 12.8 g/100 g dw, (33) where outlier values may be due to small sample sizes in the studies. All authors used the Kjeldahl analysis with a conversion factor of 6.25 for protein determination; hence, the methodology cannot be the cause of the observed variation in data.…”

“…In the literature, there is also a notable variability in fat content for all the species ranging from 0.3 g/100 g dw (22) to 20 g/100 g dw. (34) Saka and Msonthi (16) reported a fat content of 31.2 g/100 g dw for S. spinosa, which was the maximum value for fruits of the same species and other reported species.…”

“…The differences in values between studies and from species to species could result from different coefficients used to compute energy values. In a comparative study, S. spinosa ranked superior to other indigenous fruits; the energy value for S. spinosa was 1923 kJ/100 g, which was higher than for ber (Z. mauritiana), with an energy value of 1588 kJ/100 g, and baobab (A. digitata), with an energy value of 1480 kJ/100 g. (16) Generally, the crude fiber content ranged from 2.5 g/100 g dw (22) to 22.2 g/100 g dw (33) for monkey orange species reviewed. The fiber content of S. spinosa (17.6 g/100 g dw) was similar to that of S. innocua (17.9 g/100 g dw), as reported by Saka and Msonthi.…”

“…Overall, the ripe monkey orange species has fleshy, (22) sweet, (14) yellow, very aromatic pulp, (5,23) and contains numerous hard brown seeds. (24) There is wide variability in the general description of taste, color, texture and flavour between and within species (Table 1).…”

“…(20) Strychnos spp. depending with species have an iron content up to 140 mg/100 g, (22) giving potential to deliver iron when used as a food source by pregnant or lactating women and children. Strychnos spp.…”