Sunday, August 18, 2013

Moringa Oleifera


Is a species of edible tree that is not native to Florida. I purchased my seeds from a grower out of California and so far I am quite happy with them.
Moringa are fast growers, mine were started from seed and have reached a height of approximately 15ft in a year. The moringa is a soft wood though, so if there are high winds that cause more than a 15 degree tilt in the tree for more than about 2 days the tree will kill off branches until the stress is relieved or you can go strip the branches for your own consumption. My trees are spaced about 22ft apart and seem to prefer an east to west growth. In other words, they are growing to resemble a fan opened so that a northern or southern wind would catch the majority of it.
Now for the good part; eating! The immature leaves taste similar to uncooked mustard greens; they have a naturally spicy flavor. The mature leaves taste similar to spinach. I tend to eat them raw or in a smoothie, but they cook just like any green. The branches can also be eaten, I have found the texture not to my liking, so my next research project will more than likely be paper making. The flowers, seeds and seed pods are suppose to be edible as well, but mine did not produce much of these this year, so I have not experimented with them yet.
To store morniga over long periods I have found drying to work the best for me, but be sure to have some means to keep the moisture in the container very low as mold likes to grow on the dried bits. After the moringa a dried I grind mine by stuffing it into a blender. For measuring sake one cup of fresh leaves will finder about 1 tablespoon of power.

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