Author(s)

Médoune Gaye Sarr^1,2, Nafissatou Diop Ndiaye³, Nicolas Cyrille Ayessou^1,2*, Papa Guedel Faye^1,2, Mady Cisse^1,2, Mama Sakho^1,2, Codou Mar Diop^1,2

¹Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique, University Cheikh Anta DIOP, Dakar, Sénégal.
²Laboratoire d’Electrochimie et des Procédés Membranaires, Centre d’Etudes sur la Sécurité Alimentaire et les Molécules Fonctionnelles (CESAM), Dakar, Sénégal.
³Institut de Technologie Alimentaire (ITA), Atelier de transformation des fruits et légumes, Dakar, Sénégal.

Native of West Africa, Saba senegalensis belongs to the family of Apocynaceae, and is a wild plant that is mainly exploited in the diet. It grows mainly along riverbanks, in wooded savannah areas in humid areas, in gallery forests and in rocky ravines and hills. Saba senegalensis is a large woody liana with white latex, dark gray bark, can reach more than 40 m high and a trunk that can measure up to 47 cm in diameter. The fruit is a globose shell, 7 to 10 cm long, 6 to 8 cm wide. The leaves are opposite, elliptical, dark green in color, about 8 to 15 cm long and 4 to 6 cm wide. This fruit is characterized by its richness in antioxidant molecules especially vitamin C (480 mg/100 g) and total polyphenols (945.83 mg/100 g). The fruit contents 41.43 until 80% water with a low pH (2.24). In Senegal, the fruit is eaten as it or transformed into puree, nectar, syrup, canned etc. It is a plant that has enormous therapeutic virtues, from the fruit to the roots through the leaves, bark, and latex. Despite its high nutritional potential, its many therapeutic virtues and its economic potential, Saba senegalensis remains under-exploited. Further researches on the nutritional and therapeutic properties deserve to be conducted.

Senegal, Saba senegalensis, Fruit, Uses, Composition

Sarr, M. , Ndiaye, N. , Ayessou, N. , Faye, P. , Cisse, M. , Sakho, M. and Diop, C. (2018) Saba senegalensis: Key Features and Uses. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 9, 1099-1111. doi: 10.4236/fns.2018.99080.