An Underutilized Food “Miwu”: Diet History, Nutritional Evaluations, and Countermeasures for Industrial Development

Abstract

About 10 major crops basically feed the world. In fact, there are still a large number of plants that have not been fully explored and utilized because they have been ignored by the market and research. The expansion of food sources in various countries plays an important role in maintaining food security and nutrition security in the world. Miwu is the aerial part of the medicinal plant Rhizoma Chuanxiong belonging to a traditional local characteristic food raw material. Its edible value is still little known. Through textual research, component determination, literature survey, field research, and SWOT analysis, this paper has a comprehensive understanding of Miwu’s diet history, chemical components, safety risks, and industrial development status. It is found that Miwu has been eaten for 800 years, is rich in nutrients and active ingredients, and has no acute toxicity. In addition, the current industrial development of Miwu has significant advantages and many challenges. To sum up, Miwu is a potentially underutilized food raw material. This paper also provides countermeasures for the industrialized development of Miwu, which will provide a milestone reference for the future utilization and development of Miwu.