Abstract
The cost of brined vegetables was compared with that of fresh vegetables on the basis of data collected in large vegetable markets in Senegal. The cost of vegetables brined during the period of abundance was markedly lower than that of fresh vegetables during the period when vegetables were scarce. Introducing such a method in rural Senegal would permit control of price fluctuations, which are subject to the law of supply and demand and to speculation by intermediaries in the Senegalese system of vegetable marketing.
Different ways of using four brined tropical vegetables - tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, and okra - in two Senegalese dishes were studied. Mixing minced brined vegetables with untreated vegetables seems an excellent way to introduce way to introduce brined foods into dietary habits. Mafé kandia prepared from vegetables treated with 26.6 percent NaCI brine was significantly more acceptable than the same dish from vegetables treated with 20 per cent brine (P < 2.5); there was no significant difference in salty flavour between the two dishes Organoleptic tests on tiébou dienn, in which vegetables are used in large pieces that can be tasted separately, showed that the salty flavour of the tomatoes was more marked than that of the eggplant, pepper, and okra; the difference in salty flavour was significant (P = 0.5) between tomatoes and eggplant, tomatoes and okra, and pepperf and okra but not between tomatoes and pepper, pepper and eggplant, or eggplant and okra