OLETE MAIA from Brasil sent me a published report from 1977 on the nutritional content of Pereskia leaves, among some other documents I’ll be looking through too. On the other hand, I’m not a scientist, so at best I can read the abstracts. But this one has a picture to go with it, and a lovely picture it is.
It seems that Brasilians have been eating the leaves of the Pereskia aculeata and nobody had bothered to check on their nutritional value before 1977. After checking,
Food efficiency, apparent net protein utilization and apparent digestibility were also determined. The fibrous residue showed a high digestibility…
It’s protein content is 25.4%… suggests it is a good protein source…. On the other hand some leaves do not yield protein concentrate of good quality.
The rest of it is equations and tables and percentages.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
But . . . but . . . the equations, tables, and percentages are the best part! Why must you torture me so?
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Mr S.-
I can send you a copy of the 30 year old study if you’d like to check out all the data. Then you could report back with a better, more complete summary than the one I wrote.
Peter
May 5th, 2008 at 10:57 am
If I depended on Pereskia for nutrition I’d be starving. For some reason I find it very difficult to grow the things over here (UK).
May 5th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Stuart,
They’re difficult to grow here too. Especially prone to powdery mildew. Must be inside in the winter, but do better outside in the summer.
Peter