Background: Along the Alps, the Alpine diet is considered to be one of the most common nutritional models. Next to traditional animal-based products, spontaneous plants of the territory are collected and eaten.
Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the nutritional features of selected autochthonous plants of the territory and the typical recipe of green gnocchi.
Methods: The analyses of proximate composition, carotenoid, total phenol, and mineral contents in raw and cooked plant samples and the chemical composition and in vitro starch digestibility in green and control gnocchi were performed.
Results: Except for Aruncus dioicus, all the wild plants contained high levels of carotenoids (15-20 mg/100 g FW), mainly as xanthophylls. Rumex acetosa showed the highest levels of total phenols (554 mg GAE/100 g FW), and Urtica dioica can be considered to be a good dietary source of iron, calcium, and magnesium (4.9, 410, and 72 mg/100 g FW). Cooking significantly decreased the potassium and magnesium contents in all wild species, and total phenols and carotenoids in Aruncus dioicus, Blitum bonus-henricus, and Silene vulgaris (p < 0.05). The slowly digestible fraction of starch (%SDS/available starch), which is inversely correlated to insulin demand, was significantly increased in green gnocchi compared to matched control gnocchi (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Traditional consumption of spontaneous plants in the Alpine regions might increase the dietary intakes of several bioactive substances and contribute to cover the nutritional needs of micronutrients.
Keywords: Alpine diet; carotenoids; digestible starch; ethnobotany; gnocchi; phenolic compounds; spontaneous plants; traditional dishes.