Evaluation of Calligonum azel Maire, a North African desert plant, for its nutritional potential as a sustainable food and feed.

This study is the first to evaluate the potential of Calligonum azel Maire as a food ingredient. The plant materials flowers, leaves, stems and roots were analyzed by wet-chemical and instrumental methods for major and minor composition. The highest protein and sugar contents were recorded in the flowers (17.8% and 1.6% respectively), while the fat content was most abundant in the leaves (2.9%). Hexane extracts screened by gas chromatography (GC) for fatty acid composition showed 14 major compounds such as oleic acid, linoleic acid and palmitic acid, but also ω3 and ω6 unsaturated fatty acids. The essential oils extracted by hydrodistillation were screened by GC/MS and 31 compounds were identified including estragole, naphthalene, anethole, phytol and curcumene. The HPLC-DAD screening revealed that the methanolic extracts do not contain any pharmacologically active compound with adverse properties, but quercetin, hordenine and vanillin were abundant in the flowers, leaves and roots. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H NMR) spectroscopy showed that glucose, sucrose and fructose were abundant in acetone and methanol extracts, while urea and glycerol were abundant in the aqueous extracts. A sensory evaluation of the aqueous infusions showed properties of the flowers reminiscent of other herbal teas. In conclusion, our results corroborate the suitability of the traditionally described use of Calligonum azel Maire as food and feed. The further study of this plant as a sustainable nutritional ingredient appears to be worthwhile.