Flavour profile, consumer acceptance and cooking methods of Portulacaria afra (spekboom) leaves

Portulacaria afra (P. afra) is a highly adaptable edible wild-growing succulent plant known as Spekboom. It thrives in gardens and the wild in arid and semi-arid regions of Southern Africa. It has a pleasant and citrusy acidic flavour. The study determined the consumer liking and sensory profile of five Spekboom treatments (raw, blanched, oven-baked, stir-fried and steamed). Ninety-four panellists ranked it on a nine-point hedonic scale and selected sensory characteristics which best described the taste using the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) assessment. The overall liking assessment showed the fresh sample was 'neither liked nor disliked' (5.06), while the other treatments were 'disliked slightly'. The most frequently checked terms in the CATA assessment were "leafy appearance" (201) and sour taste (369). Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering and External Preference Mapping indicated two clusters. Cluster 1 indicated the raw leaves as fresh, green, leafy, and crispy, while the second cluster preferred blanched, oven-baked, and steamed leaves with descriptors like sour, bitter, chewy, juicy and pungent. All the treatments, except stir-frying, appeared to be acceptable to consumers. Thus, this plant has an acceptable taste. It could assist in ensuring sustainable food security and reduce the vulnerability of rural and urban food-insecure households in Southern Africa.