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What is salicornia?
Salicornia, of the botanical genus Salicornia or Queller (synonym) and europaea species, is an edible herbaceous succulent plant belonging to the botanical family Amaranthaceae.
The primary characteristic of salicornia is its affinity to salty soils, from which it takes its name. Morphologically speaking instead, the Genus Queller ( Salicornia ) is distinguishable by its shape, typically branched but apparently without leaves and fleshy or succulent.
That of the salicornie is a group of very similar and almost indistinguishable species among them, distributed throughout Eurasia. As can be deduced, salicornia mainly colonizes the sea shore, especially where the tide creates stagnant water, and is very common on the muddy or sandy soils of the salt pans.
Salicornia is also known as sea fennel, sea bean and sea asparagus.
Nutritional Properties
Nutritional properties of salicornia
Salicornia belongs to the VI fundamental group of foods - sources of vitamin A, specific minerals, water and fiber. It is particularly rich in minerals dissolved in the sea that we will list later.
In the context of vegetables, salicornia has a considerable energy supply, which is around 65 kcal / 100 g. Energy is supplied mainly by proteins (over 13 g / 100 g), followed by a few carbohydrates (just over 3 g / 100 g); lipids are irrelevant, but of excellent quality - essential polyunsaturated omega 3. Peptides have an incomplete biological value, ie they do not contain all the essential amino acids compared to the human protein model. Sugars are almost totally soluble.
Salicornia also contains dietary fiber, while it is free of cholesterol, lactose and gluten. It is low in phenylalanine, purines and histamine.
With regard to vitamins, the content of retinol equivalents (vitamin E and provitamine A) is discreet. Among the most abundant minerals in salicornia we mention: sodium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, manganese, copper and iodine - which is probably the most important from a nutritional point of view.
Diet
Salicornia in the diet
Salicornia is a food that is suitable for most diets.
It is low in calories and has no contraindications in the low-calorie diet. Due to the presence of omega 3, fiber and the absence of cholesterol, like other vegetables, it is desirable in the diet against dyslipidemia - hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia - and chronic hyperglycemia - also type 2 diabetes mellitus. Containing a lot of sodium, it can re-enter the sodium sensitive high blood pressure diet as long as no sodium foods are consumed and discretionary salt is not used.
The presence of fibers, whose precise content is unknown, plays a positive role on intestinal health. These, which give satiety and positively modulate the absorption of fats and carbohydrates, prevent constipation or constipation and all the related complications - diverticulosis, diverticulitis, haemorrhoids, anal fissures, prolapse etc. Moreover, in the long term they are able to decrease the incidence of certain types of colon cancer. The soluble ones are also important prebiotics and play a positive role on the maintenance of the trophism of the intestinal bacterial flora - which further contributes to keeping the colon healthy.
Vitamin A is probably present in the form of retinol equivalents - such as carotenoids - powerful antioxidants and retinol precursors, which maintains essential functions such as visual, reproductive, cell differentiation, etc.
Salicornia water and minerals favor the maintenance of hydration and prevent electrolyte imbalances - both more frequent in athletes and the elderly. The levels of iodine, iron - although not very bioavailable - and calcium are particularly interesting. In particular, iodine is a very rare micro-element in food but extremely important, because it is necessary for the correct functioning of the thyroid gland - which produces hormones that regulate cellular metabolism: T3 and T4.
Kitchen
How to eat salicornia?
Salicornia is an edible plant and is also called sea asparagus. It is considered a precious wild vegetable, with a savory taste and a slightly spicy taste. The salicornia is excellent consumed raw, as a side dish, or blanched in water; some make it pickled. However, the plant must be harvested young, by hand, in the month of May. Because the roots of salicornia draw directly from seawater, the plant contains all the nutrients and minerals in this environment.
Other uses of salicornia
In the past, salicornia ashes were used for the production of soap. In the production of blown glass, it was used to reduce the melting point of the material, hence the German name "Glasschmelz".
Description
Description of salicornia
The salicornie are herbaceous halophile, typically annual, fat plants that reach 5-45 cm in height. They are green throughout most of the year; only at the end of September, October, November and early December, months in which they become more luxuriant, they take on a typically red or yellowish color. Depending on the subspecies, the stem of the salicornia can be more or less branched, in an erect or horizontal position, covered or less with tiny laminae.
The flowering period of the salicornia lasts from June to September. It produces from one to three flowers housed between the bracts, inconspicuous and hermaphroditic. Then the capsules are formed from these, covered by the spongy tepal shaped like a sack and rich in salt.
Botany
Notes on botany of salicornia
Salicornia is a herbaceous vegetable organism. It is also a succulent succulent plant, capable of retaining high percentages of water and salt. Of the Chenopodiaceae Family, the common salicornia is of the genus Salicornia and specie europaea .
Salicornia is widespread especially in the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, from Europe to Asia (China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia), or Northern Eurasia. The plants multiply extremely luxuriantly in the muddy and sandy expanses of the North Sea and the Baltic, on the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean Basin.
Salicornia can also extend further into the sea, on the shoreline of the tides, thanks to its high tolerance to stagnant and salt terrestrials. Here it forms the so-called "quellerzone", where it often shares the ground with the Spartina anglica .
However, the salicornia can also grow inland, on highly saline soils. The species most easily found in these areas is the Salicornia perennans, similar to the European salicornia but genetically different from the coast populations.
In Austria, the salicornia grows in the salt pans of the Pannonian region of Burgenland, in particular in the Seewinkel, where it is considered an endangered species.
Taxonomy of salicornia
The succulence - characteristic of some types of plants, such as aloe vera - the particular morphology and the great variability among the groups of the same species have made the taxonomic classification of salicornia very difficult.
Until 2011, some species and subspecies of the species S. europaea were recognized: S. Europaea subsp Europaea, S. Europaea subsp brachystacha, Salicornia procumbens and Salicornia stricta .
However in 2012 from studies of molecular genetics Kadereit et al. have divided Eurasian plants into two groups of species with related subtypes:
- Species group Salicornia europaea, with two cryptospecies that are genetically distinct but morphologically similar:
- Salicornia europaea, with three subtypes:
- Salicornia europaea subsp. Europaea
- Salicornia europaea subsp. Disarticulata
- Salicornia europaea subsp. × marshallii
- Salicornia perennans, with two subspecies:
- Salicornia perennans subsp . Perennans
- Salicornia perennans subsp. altaica
- Salicornia europaea, with three subtypes:
- Species group Salicornia procumbens and persica :
- Salicornia procumbens, with four subspecies:
- Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbens
- Salicornia procumbens subsp. freitagii
- Salicornia procumbens subsp. pojarkovae
- Salicornia procumbens subsp. heterantha
- Salicornia persica, with two subspecies:
- Salicornia persica persica
- Iranian Salicornia persica .
Outline of ecology on salicornia
The salicornie are the first colonizers of the sandy and muddy soils of the sea, preceded only by algae and underwater plants. Thanks to their high salt tolerance, they already grow in the area of the shore and contribute to the consolidation of suspended matter. This process, also called sedimentation, gradually leads to the stratification of the soil.
Alofite obligated, the salicornie tolerate the highest salt content of all terrestrial herbaceous plants. Use its succulence as a strategy to dilute the absorbed salts and tolerate the highly concentrated soils of the mineral. Sodium ions bind to water that is stored in large vacuoles. This prevents the accumulation of excessive intracellular salt concentrations. The life cycle of the salicornia ends with death, when the concentration of salt becomes excessive and the plant turns brown or red.
However, the seeds require germination in fresh water and only sprout after a rain or a flood. After germination, the young plant tolerates the full concentration of sea water. After death, the salicornia releases up to ten thousand seeds per plant, which maintain a long germination capacity in the soil - up to 50 years. In spring young seedlings develop, which grow quickly. In August, during flowering, pollination takes place by wind.
The seeds of salicornia, in the winter period, constitute an important nutritional source for various species of seabirds.
