NUTRIENT COMPOSITION AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF AN INDIGENOUS EDIBLE VEGETABLE ‘EDITAN’ (Lasianthera africana)

Green leafy vegetables constitute an indispensable component of human diet and they provide adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals for optimal functioning of the human body system. This study examined the nutrient and anti-nutrient composition of steamed ‘editan’ (Lasianthera Africana) and ‘ugu’(Telferia occidentalis) leaves and sensory properties of soup prepared with the two vegetables. Fresh vegetable leaves (ugu) and editan obtained were cleaned by washing with clean water to remove dirt and other contaminants. Editan was sliced, blanched with warm water for about 5 minutes and then, washed to remove the bitter taste. Editan and ugu were steamed for about 5minutes without water and thereafter used for the analysis. Sensory properties were carried out on soup prepared with the two vegetables with ugu as the control using a 9 point Hedonic scale, score 9 as liked extremely and 1 as disliked extremely. The results proved editan a good source of vegetable protein (10.28%) while ugu was 8.74%. Moisture content of editan was 75.65% and ugu (73.61%). The other nutrients gave different results as follows: ash for editan 5.51% and ugu (3.54%). Mineral contents for editan were Ca (0.37 mg/g), Mg (0.25 mg/g), Na (0.32 mg/g), K (0.18 mg/g), Zn (0.13 mg/g), Fe (0.27 mg/g), P (0.43 mg/g) while ugu were Ca (0.49 mg/g), Mg (0,32 mg/g), Na (0.28 mg/g), K (0.46 mg/g), Zn (0.16 mg/g), Fe (0.21 mg/g), P (0.36 mg/g).There were significant difference (P =.05) between editan and ugu in the other minerals but there was no significant difference (P>.05) in the case of iron, zinc and potassium. Provitamin A for editan was (1429 µg/100g) and vitamin C (19.45 mg/g), for ugu vitamin A (3277 µg/100g) and vitamin C (25.51 mg/100g). Anti-nutrient content of editan -oxalate (0.78 mg/g), tannin (0.28 mg/g), phytate (0.42 mg/g) were less than ugu- oxalate (1.27 mg/g), tannin (0.83 mg/g), phytate (0.64 mg/g). There was no significant differences (P>.05) in all the sensory parameters in the two vegetables.