Last week we produced Moringa leaf powder in earnest. It
is amazing how few leaves it takes to a pound of powder. That powder is such
concentrated nutrition. I suspect that the leaf powder from a large number of
edible leafed plants will provide major nutritional benefits. We just haven't
tried anything else yet.
 |
| Current Leaf Dryer System |
I ground the first couple of batches in our maize
grinding machine (what is used to make masa for tortillas). The last batches
have been done by Santiago and his recruits. He somehow manages to recruit
student boys to help with the turning. Happy for that. It is warm work ... even
when the temperature is not in the mid 30's like it is these days.
Friday morning we tried two of the recipes that we
obtained from Leaf for Life (they have a fascinating web site if you are
interested). Atole - a thick drink made from rolled oats, milk, leaf powder and
sugar (with some vanilla). It was a dark green but very drinkable. Everyone
enjoyed it. When I gave it to some workers on another project, their two year
old daughter attacked it with gusto (a huge surprise for me).
 |
| Pastelito |
 |
| Maricela and I enjoying Atole |
We also used some powder with flour to make a pasta base.
Here in Honduras, one of the forms of pasta is marmahon - small round pellets
of pasta (rather like large shot gun pellets). We just made a larger size of
pellets and cooked them in some instant chicken soup mix. They had a dark green
colour but were quite edible. If they had cooked longer in the sauce they would
have been even tastier.
On Saturday, Yeni made pastelitos with ham and cheese
filling. She said they were wonderful. She also tried using some of the
"chaff" left over from grinding to make hot Moringa tea - with cinnamon
and honey - which, she said was wonderful for sleeping.
 |
| Marmahon (extra large size) |
The welder finished three small tables for drying leaves.
He is working on the drying tables right now and so, tomorrow or Friday we
should have a much more attractive system. We will use the same set up to test
Solar Water Purification (SODIS).
Will stop the powdered leaf saga before you get too
bored. Oh ... no one read this far? Sigh.
TTYL
BB
3 comments:
I read clear to the end! =D I am researching M. Oleifera and came across your blog! I am trying to figure out how much moringa powder my 2 year old son should be taking daily. You dont by chance have an idea do you? Worth asking! Thanks!
-Tennessa
Tennessa. Send me a not to my email - listed below ... BwanaBB@yahoo.ca . I will send you some more information. Suggest a tablespoon daily. The information I have will make it clearer. Certainly enjoying the benefits of it for myself.
Hi Brian, we just moved from Canada to Trujillo, Honduras Eco-development and I need to get some powdered Moringa and was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. My e-mail address is dave@davebachand.com
Post a Comment