It has excellent nutritional properties for human consumption. It is produced by hand in jam and flour for frying. Its beauty and color have made the dahlia one of the favorite flowers of Mexicans for decorative and decorative use, it is even known as the “National Flower”, but few people know that this is a gift of nature and has excellent nutritional value. properties for human consumption.

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Chapingo are developing a pilot project in the communities of La Perla and Soledad Atzompa in Veracruz, two of the country’s poorest rural regions.

The purpose of the project is to combat malnutrition and at the same time create a source of employment and income for families in these areas through cultivation, transformation and further consumption.

The head of the floriculture department of that university, José Merced Mejía Muñoz, said that dahlia is the so-called probiotic or functional food, the consumption of which can prevent colon cancer, regulate blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes, improve mineral absorption, improve digestion and provide various nutrients.

“People in the countryside do not know, with rare exceptions, that the dahlia is edible, and even less that it produces seeds, so we train them to be able to grow and propagate it and prepare it for human consumption, it can be eaten raw, cooked or transformed into other products, ” commented the expert.

For now, he added, Dalia is processed at home or by hand into jam, flour for frying and more options are being analyzed, for example tortillas and bread to replace the carbohydrates of other processed flours.

The increase in the production of this flower, its industrialization and commercialization largely depends on the success that the project of the Autonomous University of Chapingo could achieve.

There are currently around 2,000 dahlia producers throughout the country, who would see their activity benefit from the development of this Mexican university research.

Source Dnevni Portal