Some 3 billion people in the world live outside the cash economy in the world’s poorest nations. Food security and regular supply are their daily concerns. Chronic malnutrition is a leading cause of death and disease for them. Young children are amongst the most affected. One child every 5-10 seconds dies from undernutrition. Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness for someone every minute. Most people in tropical and subtropical countries are iron deficient.
It does not have to be this way. God has already provided the right plants growing in their right places to sustain people in every place on his earth.
Our goal is to provide information that enables people to choose the right plant for their environment, to give them stable food production and a greater choice of plants to enrich their diets and improve their nutritional wellbeing.
19 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues - 2100) Next
Pandanus as Food
Pandanus are usually large spiky plants with large fruiting heads and are therefore hard to collect and are often poorly represented in herbarium collections. Harold St John and Benjamin Stone were 2 Botanists who collected, studied and named many of these plants. Most pandanus are shrubs or trees with slender trunks and only a few branches. Pandanus are usually in the tropics and often they grow in damp or swampy ground. Some grow in drier forests.
There are about 600 species of Pandanus. These naturally grow in Africa (25 species), Madagascar (85 species), Asia Australia (25 species) and into the Pacific.
Edible Terminalia fruit and nuts
Normally Terminalia trees are large trees with a distinctive type of branching. Often the branches are thick and come out on layers parallel to the ground. Then they have short thick spurs and the leaves are clustered on the spurs. Many Terminalias are useful timber trees and in some areas they form extensive forests. They grow throughout the tropics.
There may be 200-250 different Terminalia species and at least 50 are used as food by people in different locations in the world. It is usually the fruit or nuts that are eaten but sometimes the gum is eaten. This article is about edible Terminalias. It is compiled from the Food Plants International database of edible plants of the world.
One species grows right on the edge of the beach in almost every tropical beach of the world. This one is Terminalia catappa. It provides lovely shade along the beach front and provides fruit that are chewed and edible kernels or nuts that are especially eaten by children. The fleshy part is rich in protein and the kernel or nut is especially rich in zinc. Children need zinc to grow tall. This book documents a number of the edible terminalia. A more exhaustive search can be found in the edible plants database on the Food Plants International website at www.foodplantsinternational.com
Brief Guide for Magdelana Milpas Altas region - 01.05.2024
This book is designed as a simple introduction to the more common food plants for healthy diets in Magdelana Milpas Altas region. It is hoped people will take greater pride and interest in these plants and become confident and informed about how to grow and use them. Many of the local food plants that occur in every country are very good quality food. Unfortunately, people often reject traditional food plants and grow more of the introduced vegetables. The principle behind Food Plant Solutions is to encourage the use of local plants. The health, well-being and food security of a nation requires making the best use of all available food plant resources.
If you download a publication, please contact Food Plant Solutions at – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Feedback on any publication is invited and much appreciated – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Edible leaves in Vietnam
2024, Bruce R French, Food Plants International
- Some are used as vegetables
- Some for flavouring
- Some are used to make tea drinks
- They are added to soups and stews
- Usually it is the young leaves that are used
- Often a mixture of leaves are eaten together
- Normally cook all leaves to remove bacteria and destroy poisons like cyanide
Edible Leafy Greens of Papua New Guinea
This book is designed as a simple introduction to the more common leafy greens of Papua New Guinea. It is hoped people will take greater pride and interest in these plants and become confident and informed about how to grow and use them. Many of the local food plants that occur in every country are very good quality food. Unfortunately, people often reject traditional food plants and grow more of the introduced vegetables. The principle behind Food Plant Solutions is to encourage the use of local plants.
If you download a publication, please contact Food Plant Solutions at – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Feedback on any publication is invited and much appreciated – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Fruit of Colombia
Pictures of fruit that grow in Colombia
Food Plants and Good Gardening for Healthy Diets in Malawi
This book is designed as a simple introduction to good gardening in Malawi. It is hoped people will take greater pride and interest in these plants and become confident and informed about how to grow and use them. Many of the local food plants that occur in every country are very good quality food. Unfortunately, people often reject traditional food plants and grow more of the introduced vegetables. The principle behind Food Plant Solutions is to encourage the use of local plants.
If you download a publication, please contact Food Plant Solutions at – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Feedback on any publication is invited and much appreciated – info@foodplantsolutions.org
Fruit Trees in Arid Areas of Ghana
Ghana has a population of about 30 million people. There are slightly over 1,200 edible plant species currently growing in Ghana. But life gets more difficult in the drier Sahel zone to the north of the country.
There are possibly 4-5 million people who live in this more arid zone. Tree are important for protecting the soil and reducing the spread of the desert. As well they often provide firewood for cooking and wood for houses. But as well there are a number of trees that produce edible parts.
It is merely a selection from our database of edible plants of the world. (www.foodplantsinternational.com) Our database now has 31,499 edible plant species for every country of the world. Of these 1,224 are recorded as growing in Ghana. But many won’t grow in the drier arid areas. In fact we have 390 edible plant species that do occur in arid areas in Ghana and we have just chosen 113 fruit trees that occur in arid areas of Ghana.
This booklet only covers trees of the arid zones in Ghana that produce edible fruit.
Food gardening on Misima Island
A brief introduction to the crops in Misima Island, Papua New Guinea. Misima is mountainous and densely forested. Mt. Koia Tau, at a height of 1,036 meters, is the highest peak of the Louisiade Archipelago. The island measures 40 km by 10 km and has an area of 202.5 km2. It has a population of about 5,000 people There are 2 main languages.
Food Plants for Arid Lands in Africa
The following pages are an illustrated selection of some of the edible plants growing in arid areas in Africa. Unfortunately for many others I do not have photographs. For details about the plants check the Food Plants International database available on line at:
