Poster

Abstract

Salicornia is a halophyte plant usually found in saltmarshes used in gourmet cuisine because of their salty taste and crispy texture. To cope with the harsh extreme conditions of their marine influenced habitats these plants produce antioxidant compounds such as phenolics and vitamins A and E, which confer them high nutritional value and functional properties. Agro-On is a Portuguese company from the Algarve with a strong innovating character in the agriculture and food sectors, which has commercialized Salicornia ramosissima, produced in hydroponic systems, for the last two years. Their product “Salicornia Natural da Ria Formosa” is highly appreciated and consumed in fine dining restaurants in Portugal being considered of superior quality compared to other similar salicornia collected from the wild or cultivated on saline soil. Together with the University of Algarve, a Consortium was formed to propose the XtremeGourmet project, which was funded by FEDER. This project proposes to: i) established objective quality standards for halophyte plants as gourmet ingredients; ii) advance the knowledge on nutritional and functional properties of halophyte plants under different cultivation conditions; iii) increase the commercialization period of the product “Salicornia Natural da Ria Formosa”; and iv) diversify Agro-On’s offer of halophyte species for gourmet restaurants.

Short CV

Luísa Barreira is an Assistant Professor of the Chemistry and Pharmacy Department of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Algarve since 2007. She has a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Technologies and is currently a senior researcher in MarBiotech (CCMAR) for I+D+I of Biotechnological Applications of Marine Organisms, from the production of biodiesel and other bioproducts (e.g. phospholipids, polyunsaturated fatty acids) from microalgae to the search of natural products with biological activities (antioxidant, anti-tumoural,
anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic) in marine organisms (e.g. microalgae, seaweeds, seagrasses, halophyte plants and invertebrates). She has published more than 60 papers with over 800 citations. Currently she is coordinating the XtremeGourmet project funded by CRESC, Algarve 2020 (FEDER) of sea cucumber fisheries.

Atendance Certificate

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