Wan hang chorakhe | ว่านหางจระเข้ | Aloe barbadensis
Family: Asphodelaceae - Genus: Aloe
Behind the Special School of the Thai Child Development Foundation is the 'soap' garden, where you will find the Aloe Vera. The Foundation uses the plant for the soap products the students learn to make.
Aloe vera is a succulent plant species and an evergreen perennial. It has thick, succulent leaves that are plumped up with a watery gel. The leaves grow from the base of the plant, in a rosette, and have jagged edges with flexible spines.
The spiky flowers appear on tall stalks, in shades of yellow, orange and red. Young plants don’t generally flower and it can take years to produce a flower stalk.
Aloe vera is also know as Aloe, First Aid Plant, True Aloe, African Aloe, Burn Plant, and Miracle Plant.
Aloe vera can be harvested the whole year through.
THE PLANT
It is a stemless or very short-stemmed plant growing to 60–100 centimeter tall, spreading by offsets. The leaves are thick and fleshy, green to grey-green, with some varieties showing white flecks on their upper and lower stem surfaces. The margin of the leaf is serrated and has small white teeth. The flowers can grow up to 90 centimeter tall, each flower being pendulous, with a yellow tubular corolla 2–3 centimeter long.
THE LEAVES
The leaves of the aloe vera are succulent, thick and fleshy. The slightly curved, dagger-shaped foliage grows as a rosette out of the plant's base and each plant generally has 16 to 20 leaves. Each leaf grows 18 to 36 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. The gray-green or pale green upper leaf surface, sometimes variegated with small white dots, is mostly flat, while the lower leaf surface is convex. Aloe vera leaf margins are slightly pinkish and have pale, firm and triangular teeth.
THE FLOWERS
An aloe vera's flowers appear on spikes up to 3 feet tall. The flowers are yellowish-orange and tubular. They are arranged in an arrow-shaped cluster atop the stalk. Aloe veras tend to flower in spring but may bloom sporadically throughout the year.
THE FRUIT
Aloe vera plants may occasionally bear fruit and seeds. The fruit of the plant is a capsule that opens vertically. The plant's seeds are about 1 inch long, dark brown and winged.
CULINARY USES
Aloe vera is a familiar ingredient in the foods and beverages of Asia, South East Asia, and the Caribbean, and can be enjoyed raw or cooked, in blended drinks, soups, and dips; in curries and stews and in salads.
Its flesh, or transparent mesophyll, is strangely beautiful and almost flavourless with a slight “green” taste, but improperly prepared aloe that hasn’t been skinned and rinsed well, can be bitter and may cause tummy troubles due to the aloin, a compound found in aloe vera that has a laxative effect.
Aloe vera is considered a super-food by some, an everyday vegetable by many more, and a complete mystery by still others, but, once a spear of aloe has been prepared, it can be blended into a drink, or cut into cubes and used in many of the same recipes as cubes of meat or fish veggies, or fruit: in soups, stews, and curries, or julienned for salads and ceviche. Because it’s so neutral, it works just as well in sweet dishes; try adding the crystal clear cubes to a fruit salad, or poach cubes of aloe in fruit juice and serve over ice cream or yogurt. With its skin removed, its texture is tender, similar to an extra firm jelly, though mucilaginous or slimy. But that slime can and should be rinsed away.
NUTRITION
Aloe vera contains a good amount of vitamin C , vitamin A (beta carotene), vitamin E, vitamin B12, folic acid (vitamin B) and choline. The plant also contains minerals, calcium, chromium, copper, selenium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, and zinc.
TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USE OF NEEDLE FLOWER
NOTE: please take advice from a doctor if you are planning to use herbal medicine.
Aloe vera is the oldest medicinal plant ever known and the most applied medicinal plant worldwide. Extracts of Aloe Vera is a proven skin healer. Aloe Vera help to soothe skin injuries affected by burning, skin irritations, cuts and insect bites, and its bactericidal properties relieve itching and skin swellings.
It is known to help slow down the appearance of wrinkles and actively repair the damaged skin cells that cause the visible signs of aging.
Aloe is a powerful detoxifier, antiseptic and tonic for the nervous system. It also has immune-boosting and anti-viral properties.
Aloe Vera is a useful source of vitamins. Aloe Vera Gel contains a large range of vitamins – even vitamin B12, Vitamin A, contains B-Group vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and folic acid. Aloe Vera Gel contains important ingredients including 19 of the 20 amino acids needed by the human body and seven of the eight essential ones that just cannot be made.
INTO THE WILD: a down to earth experience
For guests and visitors to Paksong we organize weekly tours "The Edible Forest" and Foraging weekends: Into the Wild. We work with local guides to take you in the jungle of Paksong. After foraging, we will cook a meal with the ingredients, using bamboo together with you!
Come and join and learn about the abundance of food that nature gives us!
INTO THE WILD!
Comentarios