Moringa

I know, you hear about a new "superfood" almost every day. In the true sense, there are no "superfoods," it is a catchy term created by marketers (probably working for Whole Foods) to entice us to pay way to much for something. However, Moringa is the real deal and relatively easy to grow and harvest. It is a little more attractive than kale, not as sexy as chocolate covered açaí berries, and doesn't have the zing of fresh ginger, yet it provides a huge amount of vitamins and minerals for its unassuming appearance.

We were introduced to Moringa, (also known in some parts of the world as the Drumstick tree) by a friend who has lived here for many years. He has a couple of small plots of land planted with this fast growing, drought-resistant tree. (Not that drought is much of problem here.) Drought-resistance is a valuable characteristic that allows its cultivation in areas of the world that are "food insecure." Its cultivation and consumption is encouraged in regions where breast-feeding mothers and children lack other food sources for Vitamins A, C, B, as well as, Iron and Magnesium. Though reading online, it requires ingesting 5 cups of leaves to receive maximum benefit.

We are starting small by adding an amount of powdered leaves to our smoothies each day. Since I am harvesting leaves from my neighbor's trees, I trim about a half dozen branches at a time. The drying process is very low tech. I cut open an extra-large, black garbage bag and lay it on the white pebbles in our driveway, weighing down the corners with larger stones.

I try to harvest the limbs early in the morning to allow for the maximum of sun drying time. As my mother reports regularly from her digital thermometer, the humidity ranges from 65 to 85% during the day. Even exposed to direct sunlight, the leaves generally still contain a small amount of water content at the end of the day. To remove the leaves from the branches, I hold the tip of the branch in one hand and slide my other hand "against the grain" along the length. The leaves strip off cleanly and easily. I gather up all the leaves into a metal baking dish and fire up the gas oven (with the temperature gauge that is always a mystery), place the leaves in the oven for a few minutes to ensure that they are completely dry. If I don't give the leaves a quick heat bath, they will turn moldy in the jar. After the leaves cool, I pop them into the blender to pulverize them into a fine powder. Now they are ready to add to any dish.

The leaves will retain more of their vitamins if they are only exposed to a minimum of cooking. We tend to add the Moringa powder to cold dishes like salads. The powder has very little scent and practically no significant taste. You can add it to almost anything without affecting the flavor of the dish.

M has just transplanted 3 tiny trees that he started from seed. We believe that in about 6 months, the trees will be bushy enough to harvest. After a couple of years, the trees produce long, thin, tapered seed pods (ergo the Drumstick name.) These are edible and contain high levels of Vitamin C. In many countries, the pods are boiled to soften and added to curries. That gives me another recipe for experimentation.