# Aromatic and Nutritional Composition of Edible Flowers of Garden Garlic and Wild Leek
## 4 Discussion  
### Nutritional Compositions  
A quality edible flower is known as one that combines three important characteristics, such as its turgor, aroma and color [34]. These characteristics are conditioned to the cultivation technique, the time of harvest and the correct handling in the post-harvest, mainly. It is very difficult to apply correct management in the production of edible flowers, due to the lack of specific regulations on this type of production, which is why the regulations of general edible horticulture and organic production are taken [35], to guarantee that edible flowers must be free of chemical and biological contaminants, such as pesticides and pesticide residues, heavy metals or pathogenic microorganisms, among others. The most abundant constituent of the edible flowers studied is water. Most of the fresh weight of plants and their constituents is water. Plants are made up of a large amount of water, located mainly in the protoplasm, with an average of 85-90% water; even lipid-rich organelles, such as mitochondria and chloroplasts, contain around 50% water. Flowers of the wild leek are drier than the flowers of garden garlic, which is significantly more humid. The amount of moisture present in flowers is variable and depends on the species, variety, soil conditions and the amount of irrigation water, among other factors. The higher water content in flowers may be due to the genetic conditions, since the amount of water received and appropriate management during cultivation was identical for both types of plants. The work of [PERSON] et al. [36] provides moisture content values for flowers with dual uses, that is, edible flowers that are also ornamental. The moisture concentrations indicated by these authors range from 58.8% for begina flowers (_Begonia boliviensis_) to values of 89.81% for rose (_Rosa adorata_) petals, 90.14% for chrysanthemums (_Chrysanthemum parthenium_) and 90.32% for marigolds (_Tagetes putula_). For flowers from botanical families closer to those studied in the present work, such as chive flowers (_Allium schoenprasum_ L.), the water content was 79.99% [37], with the contents being close to those detected in this work. Similar results were obtained for the flowers of _Allium_ L. species in the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch, where the amount of moisture in the infloresences of onions was found to vary from 77.5 to 89.3% [38]. High moisture content is associated with low dry matter content and low caloric value. That is, lower water content tends to increase the energy density of edible flowers. In particular, both types of flowers are foods with a high water content and provide a low number of calories, making them attractive from a nutritional point of view, to configure low-calorie and healthy diets. Garden garlic flowers show similar energy values to chive flowers (58 kcal per 100 g fresh weight, fw) [37], and the energy levels of wild chive flowers were according to USDA [39] data for fresh chive leaves (90 kcal per 100 g fw). Ash is an index of the total mineral content, based on the analysis of inorganic residues remaining after complete ignition of the organic matter in flowers, and its levels in edible flowers suggest the considerable availability of these constituents, which are considered essential for the nutrition of humans. In this study, the flowers of garden garlic had 53.75% more ash than the flowers of wild leek. The values of ash content of the flowers studied are similar to those that other authors present in the case of edible flowers [40] and with the ash concentrations that [PERSON] et at. [41] contribute to a collection of wild and edible flowers from Mexico. The obtained ash results of our study for the wild leek flowers agree with [37], which found 0.77% ash in the fresh chive flowers. The ash in wild garlic flowers has similar values to the ash levels of two commercially available edible flowers, the pansy (_Viola vitrotkxiama_) and snapdragon (_Antitrhinum majus_) [42].