Exploring the potential of common iceplant, seaside arrowgrass and sea fennel as edible halophytic plants

Abstract

The recent interest in diversification in food consumption and the current salinization 20 and desertification processes of farmland have placed the focus on halophytic plants as 21 new food, making necessary the characterization of their biochemical composition and 22 the identification of possible bioactive compounds. In this work, three edible halophytic 23 plants were characterized: common iceplant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum), sea 24 fennel (Crithmum maritimum) and seaside arrowgrass (Triglochin maritima). The plants 25 studied were a good source of minerals. Sea fennel showed high contents of dietary 26 fibre and calcium, common iceplant had a high potassium content, while seaside 27 arrowgrass presented high levels of iron. The heavy metals content was negligible.

Use of Sea Fennel as a Natural Ingredient of Edible Films for Extending the Shelf Life of Fresh Fish Burgers

“…The most common phenolic compounds detected in sea fennel include phenolic acids, chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic, cryptochlorogenic, ferulic acid and caffeoylquinic acids and its derivatives. Gallic, caffeic, vanillic, rosmarinic and p-coumaric acids have been also previously reported in this halophyte [9,31].…”

“…The films formulated with sea fennel (SFP, SFE), especially SFE, significantly prevented the loss of TP in Atlantic horse mackerel burgers over storage time. Chlorogenic acid, a hydroxycinnamic acid, is the most abundant phenolic compound detected in sea fennel aqueous extract [8,9,38]. Sea fennel had relatively high phenolic content compared to other crops species such as different vegetables (spinach, broccoli).…”

“…Edible sea fennel films were prepared using the whole plant and plant extract on a chitosan-based formula. The phenolic profile of this sea fennel batch was previously characterized and published elsewhere [9]. Sea fennel edible plant (SFP) were prepared using a based aqueous solution of 1.5% (w/v) of chitosan dissolved into 1% (w/v) of acetic acid.…”

“…Fish extracts were used for TP evaluation, following the method described by Sánchez-Alonso, et al [9]. TPs were measured on the extracts using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, according to the Slinkard and Singleton [44] methodology, with modifications [45].…”

“…However, this halophyte is under-utilized for commercial cultivation [6]. The nutritional characteristics and phenolic profile of this plant have been characterized by the authors in a previous work [9], where its potential as a nutritive food ingredient was highlighted. Moreover, the presence of bioactive compounds, especially hydroxycinnamic acids, makes it a potential candidate for bioactive food formulation.…”