Project News

As we have received a question from a reader of our newsletter on African Leafy Vegetable (Issue No. 7), we would like to share it with other readers.

Question:

I know that Jew's mallow is a vegetable. Can others you mentioned on the newsletter (No. 7) be classified as vegetables? Amaranth is one of the cockscombs and regarded as coarse cereal in Japan. Pumpkin is a cucurbitaceous plant and cowpea is apparently legume. Please elaborate.

Answer from Dr Morimoto (Bioversity International):

It may be felt awkward in Japan but their leaves are consumed as vegetables in many parts of Africa.

Amaranth has two major types. One is a seed type originally from South America and another one is a leafy vegetable type of African origins. The leafy vegetable type is characterised with large leaves and its ears do not grow large. There are leafy vegetable types of cowpea. These leafy vegetable types have a character of not developing seed so that, when planted in narrower spacing, leaves can be harvested twice in their life cycle. The leafy vegetable types have larger leaves with less bitterness comparing to the regular cowpeas. At my research sites in the Eastern Region of Kenya, farmers use both types according to specific locations and time.

There are many species, which have multipurpose usage. In some cases, particular species are maintained as localised varieties or strains. Typical example is Japanese Nozawana (Turnip Greens), which is one of the turnips but is the specialised variety for using its leaves. For those who have never eaten cowpea leaves, it may be awkward but there are many cases that the same species have different parts being used and/or different usages. This kind of African traditional knowledge on foods, ingredients and usages has rarely got attention by western societies where the culture is different: the study on the African leafy vegetables is not advanced yet thus they are seldom regarded as useful resources in rural development.