a study of the quality of a local herbal tea and volatiles of parinari ...

Considering the benefits associated with herbal teas and increasing interest in
complementary and alternative medicines, it is important to know about the parameters
which determine the quality of the local herbal teas such as F. ancylantha. Information on
volatile constituents in some local fruits and vegetables found in Malawi would open new
doors for utilisation of these plants.
1.2 Problem statement and justification
Studies have shown that some indigenous plant species are rich in amino acids
(Mkambankhani, 2009). In rural Africa, wild fruits provide diversity of foods, vitamins
and minerals in the diet (Harris and Mohammed, 2003). Apart from their nutritional
value, plants are also eaten because of their flavour (Mepba, 2007).
Indigenous fruits such as mobola plum and monkey orange have unique flavour. P.
curatellifolia has a sweet and strong pineapple smell (Williamson, 1975; Maundu et al,
1999). Joulain et al (2004) identified 2-phenylethanol as the major component of the
volatile fraction of mobola plum using a vacuum heaspace concentration method.
Monkey orange is traditionally used to flavour cereal porridge and the pulp has a sweet
taste (Saka et al., 2008). Unlike P. curatellifolia the volatile constituents of S.
cocculoides have never been studied before.
The leaves of Manihot esculenta (cassava) and Colocasia esculenta (cocoyam) are used
as vegetables in Malawi. Volatile constituents of C. esculenta tuber have been
determined. Major components were palmitic acid and linoleic acid (Wong et al., 1998).
In another study, cooked taro (C. esculenta) corms were extracted using the Lickens
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