Jute

Jute which has the scientific name of Corchorus olitorius L. (Co) and is a member of the Malvaceae family. It is a leafy vegetable. The plant is commercially grown in Africa and the Middle East, especially in Egypt, where it is known as Molokhia (Ilhan et al., 2007).

The leaves are popular in a variety of Far Eastern and Middle Eastern cuisine. They contribute lots of mucilage (Loumerem & Alercia, 2016).

Extracts from the leaves have a high phenolic content with associated potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (Handoussa et al., 2013).

References

Handoussa, H., Hanafi, R., Eddiasty, I., El‐Gendy, M., El Khatib, A., Linscheid, M., … Ayoub, N. (2013). Anti‐inflammatory and cytotoxic activities of dietary phenolics isolated from Corchorus olitorius and Vitis vinifera. Journal of Functional Foods, 5(3), pp. 1204–1216 (Article).

Ilhan, S., Savaroğlu, F., & Çolak, F. (2007). Antibacterial and antifungal activity of Corchorus olitorius L. (Molokhia) extracts. International Journal of Natural & Engineering Sciences, 1(3), pp. 59–61

Loumerem, M., & Alercia, A. (2016). Descriptors for jute (Corchorus olitoriusL.). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 63(7), pp. 1103–1111 (Article).