In Nigeria, there is one vegetable that is generally accepted by most people, common in oir local markets and stores. Eaten by almost everyone.
That vegetable is called Fluted Pumpkin, porpularly known as Ugu leaf
Botanical name is Telforia Occidentalis, it is a drought-tolerant, dioecious perennial crop that is indigenous to Southern part of Nigeria and it does belong to the family of Cucurbitaceae. Fluted pumpkin is widely grown in many nations of West Africa, but is mainly cultivated in Nigeria especially the South-South, South-West, and the South-East for its highly nutritious leaves, used mainly in soups and vegetable souce also as herbal medicines.
Common names for the plant are fluted gourd, fluted pumpkin and ugu in some parts of Nigeria. The fruits are not edible but the seeds produced by the gourd are high in protein and fat, they can be included in the dishes to make a well-balanced diet when well prepared.
T. Occidentalis is estimated to be consumed by about 30 to 35 million people in Nigeria with a larger percentage of the plant been consumed especially in the South East of Nigeria. It is noted to have healing properties and it has been used as a form of blood tonic in many occasions, to be administered to anemic patients locally to boost their blood levels.
Description
T. Occidentalis is majorly a dioecious flowering plant, which means that it produces separate male and female parts on different plants, with very few documented cases of monoecious (both male and female parts in the same plant) flowering.
The plant size ranges from 16 to 105 cm in length for large, with an average diameter of 9cm. The seed count in the fluted gourd can be up to 196 or more per gourd for a large size, typically 3.4 to 4.9cm in length for both pistillate and staminate varieties. Fluted pumpkin flowers grow in sets of five showing a creamy-white and dark red petal unlike the light green colour of the young fruit and yellow colour when ripe on its stem.
Fluted Pumpkin (Ugu) as food
The young shoots leaves of Fluted pumpkin are one of the main ingredients of some Nigerian soups, Vegetable soup, Ofe Egusi and sometimes prepared with wild mango seed (Ogbono or Apon). Lately it is used also for ganishing in varieties of food like omletes, beans and yam porage and so on.
Egusi soup made with fluted pumpkin
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/
Ogbono soup made with fluted pumpkin
Source: http://allnigerianfoods.com/
The large dark-red seed is rich in protein and fat which can be eaten whole when boiled or dried and ground into powdery form to be used for certain kind of soup or made into a fermented porridge as the case may be.The fluted pumpkin is also considered as oilseed due to its high oil content of about 30%. The shoots contain high levels of potassium and iron while the seeds are made up of 27% crude proteins and 53% fat. It is a good source of protein and vegetable fat.
Benefits of Fluted Pumpkin
Based on result of haematinic properties of the fluted pumpkin leaves, liquid extracts from the leaves can be used in the treatment of anaemia because of the high levels of protein and iron in the plant.
At the root of the plant possesses some anti plasmodial and schizonticidal properties making it capable of treating parasitic malarial infections.
The plant leaves contains high amounts of phosphorus making it useful for onset kidney diseases, keeping it off when used regularly from onset or at detection of kidney diseases like kidney stones.
The Fluted pumpkin seed oil contain high amounts of anti-oxidative properties such as oleic acid, vitamin A, alkaloids, tannins and linoleic acid that makes it capable of treating infertility in males by boosting the functionality of the testicles for an increased sperm count.
Additionally, the seed has been highly recommended for nursing mothers due to its lactating properties which helps lactation at early child birth.
Many take the liquid juice in form of smoothies, itmis very filling and helps for weight loss and to burn belly fat when mixed with garlic, ginger and other fruits and vegetables like watermellon and carrots.
Try out a fluted pumpkin based smoothie and allow it to chill in the refrigerator to enjoy it better.
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