OUR Flores de Mayo celebration continues with our fifth flower for May. This time it is an edible flower highly popular in Mexico and Africa. Its species is even very old, to have been found used among the Aztecs in Central Mexico between 1300 and 1521.
This flower, or flowering plant, is Tagetes erecta, or commonly known as the “African marigold,” “Mexican marigold” or “Aztec marigold.” It is native in Mexico with its unique orange colored flowers, some of which can be large. However, some varieties, like most marigolds, come in yellow.
The Aztec marigold flower is among the most renowned edible flowers in the world. In fact, they are popularly used in salads.
Cristina Moliner and colleagues, from three institutions in Spain, studied the flower’s biochemical profile based on its alcohol-based extract and observed similar constituents between the orange and yellow varieties. The largest active component is laricitrin, which is a flavonoid.
In their report published in the journal “Nutrients,” Moliner and colleagues found that the Aztec marigold flowers (orange and yellow varieties) could inhibit the destructive functions of 87 percent of free radicals. Meanwhile, the orange variety demonstrated stronger reduction power against free iron radicals than the yellow cultivars. This action was attributed to the presence of xanthophylls and carotenes in the orange cultivars.
However, these carotenoids have no scavenging effects on free radicals that have hydroxyl and keto functional groups in their molecules.
In addition, the Aztec marigold flower extracts had inhibited enzymes associated with mental health and neurological disorders, such as acetylcholinesterase and monoamine oxidase A. Excessive activity of acetylcholinesterase is associated with age-related neurological degradations, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, the monoamine oxidase A had been associated with adult violence and antisocial behaviors.
Think about an Aztec marigold-flower salad. That is something exotic to try out, is it not?
Hooray! Aztec marigold flowers for our Blessed Mother!