Rooibos

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Rooibos
Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis)

Rooibos ( Aspalathus linearis )

Systematics
Order : Fabales (Fabales)
Family : Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily : Butterflies (Faboideae)
Tribe : Crotalarieae
Genre : Aspalathus
Type : Rooibos
Scientific name
Aspalathus linearis
( Burm.f. ) R.Dahlgren

Rooibos (pronounced "Roiboss" in two syllables; eingedeutscht red bush or Rooibos , scientific name Aspalathus linearis ) is a plant that the family of legumes belongs (Fabaceae). It originally thrives in the western mountain regions of the Western Cape Province of South Africa .

Selected forms of Aspalathus linearis are grown to make rooibos tea. This is a popular decaffeinated drink in southern Africa .

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Habit of a specimen on a tea farm near Clanwilliam , South Africa

Vegetative characteristics

In Aspalathus linearis is a very variable shrub achieved the stature heights of 1 to 2 meters. It has upright to spreading, rod-like branches on which there are thin branches. The bark of young branches is often reddish. The alternate and mostly close together, sitting, mostly bare leaves are green, about 1 mm thick and 1.5 to 6 cm long, have the shape of pine needles, but are very soft. There are no stipules .

Generative characteristics

The flowering period is from spring to early summer in South Africa. The short-stalked flowers stand individually or in dense groups at the ends of the branches. The hermaphrodite butterfly flowers are zygomorphic and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five petals are yellow. The relatively small, narrow legume usually contains one or two hard seeds.

Naming

In South Africa this tea is considered the national drink and is usually referred to as rooibostee ( [rɔːibɔs] ) in Afrikaans (from rooi for red and bos for bush; in German-speaking countries, “bosch” as the Dutch pronunciation of bos has also spread). In Europe, besides rooibos tea and Redbush tea often confusing terms like Rooibusch-, Rotbuschsie-, Redbos- and Koopmanstee (Afrikaans Koopman = merchant) or even Massaitee, although rooibos no relation to the tribe of the Massai has. The name Bushman tea has a historical background, as Rooibos is said to have been used by the Khoisan first .

history

It is not clear since when the rooibos have been used by the people in the cedar mountains north of Cape Town. More than 300 years ago, the inhabitants of the Cedar Mountains discovered that they could make a refreshing drink from the needle-like leaves of the rooibos. The plant was harvested with axes, after which the leaves were worked with hammers and piled up for fermentation. They were then placed in the sun to dry. In 1772 the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg reported about rooibos as a tea and medicinal plant of the Khoisan. In 1904, the Russian tea merchant Benjamin Ginsberg observed the locals preparing tea and knew how to establish the trade and marketing of rooibos primarily in South Africa, but also in Europe. Ginsberg became the first exporter of rooibos, his family has been involved in the European tea industry and in the marketing of rooibos for many generations. In the early 20th century, the doctor and nature lover Petter le Fras Nortier began researching this aromatic tea and its medicinal value. In 1930, together with the local farmers, he developed methods for cultivating rooibos in the fields.

In 1968 Annique Theron published a book on the calming effects of tea on colic babies. In 1984 the rooibos hit the headlines as an anti-aging product in Japan . Since 1995 there has also been green rooibos, which was grown by the Agricultural Research Council (Infruitec) in South Africa, and in 2006 another innovation came on the market in the form of a tea espresso, which is available in coffee shops and retailers.

Occurrence and cultivation

The natural range of Aspalathus linearis is in the South African province of Western Cape in the winter rain area from in the north about Vanrhynsdorp to the Cape Peninsula and the Betty's Bay area in the south. This area has cold wet winters and hot dry summers with around 300 to 350 mm of annual rainfall . The cultivation of Rooibos bushes is carried out with selected forms of this species, which were mainly found in the cedar mountains ( Cape belts of folds ). The rooibos plantations are located on sandy soils in the valleys of the Olifants, Breede and Hex Rivers.

The rooibos is grown worldwide exclusively in the area of ​​the Cedar Mountains about 200 km north of Cape Town, around the cities of Clanwilliam and Citrusdal. The farmers sow in February and March and plant the seedlings in the plantations in July . A shrub must be around 12 to 18 months old to harvest. The bushes are harvested once a year from December to April. The bushes are harvested for about five years and then cleared; after that, new bushes are planted.

Harvest, processing and marketing

Rooibos farm in Clanwilliam, where raw rooibos are dried
Rooibos farm in Clanwilliam, warehouse for rooibos raw tea
Dried and sliced ​​rooibos

The harvesting method is largely the same as it was in the early days of the culture. The rooibos branches are harvested during the dormant growth phase of the shrub from summer to early autumn. Machines are used, but mostly harvested by hand with a sickle. The most environmentally friendly harvesting method is to cut only the young branches. The older branches remain on the bushes, which therefore grow larger every year.

The cut branches are bundled and brought to the collection point. The crop is very finely chopped and then squeezed to start the fermentation that gives the rooibos tea its typical color and flavor. The cut and squeezed pieces of branch are moistened with water. The moist mass undergoes fermentation for eight to 24 hours, which is favored by the warm climate. During this process, which could also be referred to as oxidation , ingredients are partly broken down and partly changed. After soaking and airing, the tea is stored in heaps and thereby acquires its typical reddish-brown color and sweet, fruity aroma. When this process is complete, the tea is spread out over large areas to dry in the sun.

Then the tea is sorted according to length, color and taste. Finally, the rooibos tea is weighed, packed in large containers and sold to the companies that pack this tea under their trade name for end use in tea bags or as loose goods.

Green rooibos tea differs in that fermentation is avoided by the careful handling of the harvested rooibos branches: the plants are carefully cut, the branches carefully and loosely bundled and dried immediately after cutting without adding water. Continuous turning and moving must be ensured during the drying time. After drying, cleaning is carried out using sieves. The green rooibos tea has a much milder and lighter taste than the fermented rooibos. It contains more plant substances (polyphenols), which are said to have health-promoting properties.

The rooibos tea is exported worldwide. In Germany it has a market share of seven percent in the herbal and fruit tea market.

ingredients

The ingredients of Aspalathus linearis , including phenols and flavonoids , were presented by Hegnauer. Of numerous polyphenols , the flavonoids in particular have been scientifically well researched. The quantitatively most important flavonoids are the dihydrochalcone Aspalathin , next Isoorientin , Orientin , rutin , Isovitexin and Vitexin . These ingredients of rooibos tea are also bioavailable, as a study by the University of Braunschweig from 2010 shows. The composition changes during drying and fermentation. In contrast to tea from the tea bush ( Camellia sinensis ), rooibos tea contains no caffeine and little in tannins , which means that there are no negative consequences such as bitter taste or insomnia.

One cup of rooibos tea contains roughly:

Whether rooibos tea is also rich in vitamin C ( ascorbic acid ) is controversial.

In mid-October 2009, the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety published the results of the 2008 food monitoring, in which rooibos tea was specifically checked because it had repeatedly attracted attention due to high levels of pesticide residues. It was found that 75 percent of the samples of rooibos tea contained residues, but these were not above the permissible limit values. Only the chronic ingestion of rooibos tea is harmful to health.

Exposure to climate change

As a report by the Cape Town science journalist Leonie Joubert documents, the existence of the rooibos farms is increasingly threatened by the encroachment of the deserts as a result of global warming. The average lifespan of the bushes has therefore decreased from twelve to five years. Researchers from the regional organization Indigo Development & Change are now trying to cross-breed particularly hardy wild rooibos varieties that are better adapted to harsh environmental conditions than the previous commercial crops. Stronger, drought-resistant wild species can live to be up to 50 years and often survive long periods of drought.

Systematics

The first publication of this species took place in 1768 under the name ( Basionym ) Psoralea linearis by Nicolaas Laurens Burman in Flora Indica ... nec non Prodromus Florae Capensis , p. 22. Rolf Dahlgren put it in 1963 in Opera Botanica , volume 9 (1), p. 283 into the genus Aspalathus . Other synonyms for Aspalathus linearis (Burm. F.) R.Dahlgren are: Aspalathus contaminatus auct., Borbonia pinifolia Marloth . The genus name Aspalathus is derived from the Greek word aspalathos , which was the name of a fragrant shrub that thrived in Greece. The specific epithet linearis is a Latin word and refers to the linear leaf shape.

Aspalathus linearis belongs to the more than 200 species counting genus Aspalathus from the tribe Crotalarieae in the subfamily of the Faboideae within the family of the Fabaceae . This genus has its distribution area exclusively in South Africa ( Capensis ). Only the rooibos species ( Aspalathus linearis ) are used to make tea .

swell

literature

  • Annique Theron: Babies, allergies, and rooibos. The story behind the extraordinary discovery by Annique Theron in 1968 of the anti-allergic qualities of rooibos and the special Annique Rooibos Primitive Diet Plan for allergic sufferers. Annekie Theron Ondernemings, Silverton 1992, ISBN 0-620-16304-6 .
  • Reinhard Lieberei, Christoph Reisdorf: Crop science. 7th edition, Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 2007, p. 290.
  • Christian Laue: Flavonoids in Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis). Determination, nutricinetics, changes in extraction and storage. Cuvillier, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-869-55872-1 .

Web links

Commons : Rooibos ( Aspalathus linearis )  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry "Rooibos tea" on Duden online
  2. ↑ Entry "Rotbuschtee" on Duden online
  3. ↑ "Roibuschtee" entry on Duden online
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Marcini Govender, June 2007: Aspalathus linearis (Burm.f.) R.Dahlgren at PlantZAfrica from the South African National Biodiversity Institute = SANBI.
  5. ^ A b c Aspalathus linearis in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  6. ↑ Rooibos - the extraordinary plant from South Africa. at buenting-tee.de, accessed on May 21, 2018.
  7. ↑ Rotbuschtee / Rooibosee and its naming at rooibos-rotbusch.com, accessed on May 21, 2018.
  8. ↑ a b c South African Rooibos Council . on sarooibos.org.za
  9. ↑ a b Rooibos History ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from sarooibos.org.za, accessed September 4, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sarooibos.org.za
  10. ↑ Annekie Theron: Babies, allergies, and rooibos.
  11. ↑ a b S. Reuther: The Rooibos book. ABC Press, Cape Town 2004, ISBN 0-620-32743-X .
  12. ↑ Market report herbal and fruit teas 2010 ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at wkf.de, accessed on September 4, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wkf.de
  13. ^ Robert Hegnauer, Minie Hegnauer: Chemotaxonomy of plants. Volume XIb-2 Part 3, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2001, p. 977.
  14. ↑ O. Pokorna, UH Engelhardt: Antioxidative potential and total phenol content of herbal and fruit teas. Lebensmittelchemie, Volume 56, 2002, pp. 77-78.
  15. ↑ Peter Winterhalter, Ulrich Engelhardt: Flavonoids in selected herbal teas - determination, nutrikinetics, changes in extraction and storage. - Final report 2010. ( Memento from November 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Julia F. Morton: Rooibos Tea, Aspalathus linearis, a caffeineless, Low-Tannin Beverage. Economic Botany, Volume 37, Number 2, pp. 164-173, doi : 10.1007 / BF02858780 .
  17. ^ Reports on food safety 2008 , BVL
  18. ↑ https://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/343/pyrrolizidinalkaloide-in-kraeutertees-und-tees.pdf
  19. ↑ https://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/343/aktualisiert-risikoberung-zu-halte-an-1-2-ungesaettigte-pyrrolizidinalkaloiden-pa-in-lebensmittel.pdf
  20. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of August 19, 2008: Authors on Climate Change: The Desert is creeping up. ( Memento from September 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ^ Leonie Joubert: Boiling Point , Wits University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-86814-467-9 (on the consequences of climate change in South Africa)
  22. ↑ Aspalathus linearis at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed February 24, 2012.