Moringa the superfood, which belongs to the Moringaceae family, is a deciduous perennial tropical tree, and native to the Africa & South Asia. Since moringa is a sun and heat-loving plant, which does not survive frost, it is exceptionally suitable for the warmer regions.
Health enthusiasts include moringa into their diet of its superfood status. It can convert any meal nutrient-dense. Every section of the plant is edible — leaves, pods, seeds, flowers, even its root The moringa tree, also recognised as the drumstick tree because of its thin foot-long pods, has been utilised mainly in parts of Southeast Asia for centuries. The leaves are commonly dried and used or crushed into a powder. It consistently is recognised as one of the most nutrient-rich, antioxidant-laden, medicinal foods. Moringa has passed onto the western food and beverage enterprises, following the trends of others like matcha. Many players are entering the market, and infiltrating the mainstream tea and powder range.
Moringa oleifera leaf powder is as efficient as soap for handwashing when moistened in advance to facilitate anti-septic and detergent properties from phytochemicals in the leaves. Moringa oleifera seeds and press cake have been implemented as wastewater conditioners for dewatering and drying faecal sludge. The extracts exhibit multiple nutraceutical or pharmacological functions. The beneficial features of Moringa are strongly associated with its phytochemicals such as flavonoids or isothiocyanates with bioactivity.
In emerging nations, moringa has the potential to enhance nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and support sustainable land care for cattle and livestock its a micronutrient liquid, a natural anthelmintic, and possible adjuvant. Balanced to the leaves, the pods are commonly lower in vitamins and minerals; however, they are exceptionally rich in vitamin C.
A cup of 100 grams sliced pods contains 157% of the daily requirement of vitamin C. The diet of people in emerging nations sometimes lacks protein, vitamins and minerals. In these countries, Moringa can be a significant source of many essential nutrients. The seed has a high protein content, an average of 31.4%, whereas carbohydrate 18.4 %, fibre 7.3% and ash contents 6.2%. Thus, the defatted seeds of Moringa could give an economical source of protein for use as a food supplement to traditional diets to boost protein consumption. Moreover, like the protein fraction, Moringa seeds have a high content of methionine and cysteine, close to that reported for milk and eggs.
The seeds are a water purification agent by applying the flocculation method to produce potable water for humans and animal consumptions. Moringa seeds contain ions and molecules which neutralize & absorb colloidal charges in turbid water, prompting the colloidal particles to clump together, making the suspended particles more comfortable to remove by either by filtration or settling it.
Moringa seeds are a resource for non-food and food applications, due to their content of monounsaturated fatty acids with a high monounsaturated/saturated fatty acids (MUFA/SFA) ratio, tocopherols and sterols, as well as proteins that are rich in sulfated amino acids.
Oil is the principal ingredient of the seed and represents 36.7% of the seed weight. Moringa oil can be extracted nearly entirely by solvent extraction like n-hexane, whereas less yield is accomplished by cold press extraction only 69% on average of the total oil contained in seeds can be extracted by cold press method. Among rural India, the edible oil is derived by boiling de-husked seeds with water & collecting the oil from the surface of the water.
