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Al-Kharizia, or salicarni, grown with salt water thrive on desert farms in the Emirates, and are currently helping to produce “healthy” burgers in a frozen food business, showing the potential of sustainable agriculture under the most difficult conditions, according to Agence France-Presse.
Khuraizah, a succulent plant that stores water, is used as a substitute for salt to make burger bread by Global Food Industries, in an agricultural success in the UAE that imports nearly 90% of its food needs.
“You get a salty taste with less sodium, but you also get other benefits,” Tina Siegsmond, head of marketing and innovation, told AFP. The asparagus-like plant reduces the sodium content by 40% in the company’s burgers, which also contain chicken, quinoa and curd.
This plant genus grows in parts of North America, Europe, South Africa and South Asia, and Al Khuraiza is ideal for harsh Emirati climates and contains antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, Siegsmond said.
It was launched last year in a number of farms throughout the UAE as part of a saltwater runoff experiment from the desalination plant of the Dubai-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).
ICBA chief researcher Augusto Lopez-Laval said research is now underway to produce more of the “high-value crop” sold for $ 20 a year. kilo in France.
“We have gone from … building this prototype to experimenting on a large scale with eight farmers. The question now is how to scale it up,” Lopez-Laval told AFP, adding that in the future khariza could become a real important food ingredient. If there is an economic value and a production system is developed for this purpose, it can become a substitute for salt and other micronutrients that are today added industrially to processed foods.
Until that happens, Sigsmond says Khuraiza remains a niche product and its health benefits are unknown to most people. “It’s not a big profit product, but we believe in it and we will continue,” she says.
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