Angiopteris esculenta, a traditional edible plant consumed by Dulong people

Abstract

Angiopteris esculenta is one of the most important wild substitute plant for staple food in Dulong’s communities (the least populated ethnic group in Yunnan Province, China) for centuries. The Dulong people collect the underground parts of A. esculenta to extract flour and make it into food. In order to study and record the traditional knowledge of Angiopteris esculenta, ethnobotanical methods were employed to investigate and document the traditional knowledge about A. esculenta, and approaches of food science were used to reveal the basic components, morphology, physicochemical properties, and gelatinization characteristics of A. esculenta flour in the present paper. The results were as follows: (1) A. esculenta was a multipurpose plant in the traditional livelihood of Dulong people. Local people employed this plant for edible, medicinal, ornamental purpose and woody purposes. Quantitative analysis showed that the relative frequency of citation (RFC) of the edibleness was much higher than that of other uses, indicating that it was mainly used as staple food. (2) The traditional uses of fern flour extracted from the underground part of A. esculenta imply rationality. There was high starch content in the flour, and the total starch content was 86.2%, and A. esculenta flour contained various mineral elements necessary for human body. (3) The flour had good physicochemical properties, among which the retrogradation and freeze-thaw stability were strong, which could be used in the production and process of frozen food and starch products. The regeneration value and attenuation value of starch were much lower than that of common starch, which indicated that it had good stability of hot paste and cold paste, and not easy to regenerate, thus imply the good processability in food industry. In conclusion, A. esculenta flour has a good potential for utilization and further development. It is expected to play a positive role for increasing local residents’ income and for rural revitalization in remote areas, through the approaches of artificial cultivation. The research results provide a theoretical basis for the subsequent processing and utilization of A. esculenta.

Keywords

• angiopteris esculenta
• ethnobotany
• dulong people
• substitute plant of staple food
• traditional knowledge
• physicochemical properties