Friday, October 18, 2019

Aloe vera as food.


Aloe vera leaves have been used as food in India, China, Vietnam and the Mediterranean, at least historically (Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. Tyozaburo Tanaka. 1976.)

The leaves are invariably reported to be bitter and raw they definitely are too bitter for most (if not all) palates.

However chopped up into pieces a few cm long and boiled for 8-10 minutes they loose their bitterness and have quite a nice taste, reminiscent of  Pac Choy or Celery with a distinctive texture also somewhat like Pac Choy.

I'm not sure if it grows fast enough in temperate climates to be very useful in the vegetable garden but since it spreads to form a dense ground cover it uses space very efficiently (no gaps between plants).

No comments:

Post a Comment