No. 2 - Its Gran Canaria Magazine

84
GASTRONOMY I GASTRONOMÍA Nº 2
Tuneras plants: the food of the future?
The food industry directly affects the environment.
The environmental impact generated by farming
and livestock estates is a key factor in understanding
the process of deterioration the environment
is currently undergoing. The rising population,
together with climate change and the growing
threat of drought, have led to an unsustainable situation
in the way humans produce food.
With the aim of improving food safety in arid regions,
the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) compiled a report entitled «It’s
time to put cactus on the menu», highlighting the
importance of this plant as a food. According to
the report, «even though the majority of cactuses
are not edible, the Opuntia species has a lot to
offer, especially if it is treated as a crop as opposed
to a wild herb. Cactuses can be a crucial source
of food for the population as well as forrage for
animals. In addition, cactuses store water in their
stalks and can provide up to 180 tons of water per
hectare». Thanks to all this FAO considers the cactus
to be one of the foods of the future.
The cultivation of nopal, higuera de plata, tuna or
chumbera –among other denominations depending
on the area– is gathering speed, boosted by
the growing need for drought-resistant plants, the
prevalence of unfertile soil and rising temperatures.
In Mexico –the origin of the nopal cactus– it is
calculated that the annual consumption per capita
of nopalitos –the tender stems of the nopal– is
over six kilos. In Brazil there are over 500,000 hectares
of plantations dedicated to the supply of animal
forrage, while in the region of Tigray –in Ethiopia–
there are around 360,000 hectares.
Currently, the Canary Islands are home to over
dozen different Opuntia species. María Gloria Lobo
Rodrigo, programme coordinator at the Canary
Institute for Agricultural Research, which is conducting
a research project entitled «The integral
study for maximising the use of Opuntia to obtain
derivatives and functional ingredients by means of
the application of innovative technologies», points
out that «there is evidence of the presence of tunera
plants in the archipelago since the turn of the
16th century, when Dominican friar Bartolomé de
las Casas, who was part of an expedition to America
in 1502, came across an example of the plant
in the convent garden of the Dominican order in
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Many other examples
were introduced by the Conquistadors of America,
including Hernán Cortés».
The farming of tuneras in the Canary Islands has
held great importance over history. «We can make
use of every single part of the Opuntia plant. We
can eat their fruits, their cladodes or stems as vegetables,
and even the flowers to make herbal
teas. Currently, the most commonly marketed tuneras
belong to the Opuntia ficus índica variety
and we can find different crops that contain white,
orangey or coloured pulp, and strawberry or purple
pulp», Lobo explains.
However, tunera consumption is not something
that belongs to the past, quite the opposite. «In
the Canaries they are commonly eaten in villages,
as farmers often plant them to mark out their field
boundaries. They are also not just consumed as
fresh fruit, they are dried out and made into porreto
figs», Lobo states. Even new Canary chefs
are beginning to add them to some of their recipes,
such as cactus hamburgers, which in 2017
were incorporated into the culinary range at the
Art, Culture and Tourism Centres of the Cabildo de
Lanzarote.
This food’s main virtue is its simple cultivation.
«It is a food that needs little water for farming,
it grows on poor quality soil and doesn’t require
costly upkeep. Nevertheless, it should be remembered
that it in Spain it is part of the catalogue
of invasive species, although given its
qualities and under the right farming conditions
it should never threaten any ecosystems», Lobo
points out.
In addition to its culinary qualities, tuneras offer
other functionalities. «Their high antioxidant
content (carotenoids, betalains, flavanoides,
phelonic compounds, vitamin C, etc.) give them
anti-cancer properties. It also has a high fibre
content, B-group vitamins, magnesium, potassium,
calcium, and has only between 30 and 50
calories/100g. In the Canaries, as well as it fruits
being consumed, its mucilage is extracted and
put into suntan creams and its cladodes are
used as animal fodder (especially in goats) and
to smoke goat’s cheese», she explains.
Finally, mention must go to the production of
«Canary cochineal» which has been awarded the
certificate of Protected Designation of Origin
(PDO). «In the 19th century tunera was farmed
extensively in order to obtain carminic acid from
cochineal (Dactylopius coccus), an insect that
grows on the tunera plant’s stalk. The colouring
obtained from cochineal is a natural dye that can
be used in both food and in industrial textiles,
cosmetics or the pharmaceutical industry. In
2016, the European Union inscribed the Protected
Designation of Origin of “Canary Cochineal”
in the community log, reflecting the recognition
on a European level of this product made in the
archipelago, the only one in the world that currently
has this quality seal», concludes Lobo.