Another Edible Plant

Last week, a friend sent me a chart with the protein values for a number of potential animal feeds. The word Malanga jumped out at me with huge protein numbers. Very surprising. Then, another part said that the leaves were edible for people.

Malanga grows almost wild here in Honduras and inhabits any and most swampy or damp areas. Drainage ditches, wet stream banks and roadsides all seem to be sprouting this plant.

Malanga is a relative (quite a distant cousin in some ways) of the Taro plant. The roots are very tasty and are used in soups especially. Quite nutritious but, also, quite full of starch.

Right now, there is a big boom in malanga planting in Honduras because of the export market. Evidently it is gaining popularity in the United States. As you can imagine, that means even more leaves available for nutrition.

Saturday morning, a friend of mine helped me collect a few leaves. At home, I cut off the stems and the large central ribs and pressure cooked them for 10 minutes (on the advice of Leaf For Life director, David Kennedy). Gingerly, I tried two spoonfuls and waited an hour. No ill effects. (The leaves have a chemical that really makes your mouth and throat feel on fire when you eat them raw - Chepe and I know this from experience). An hour later I chowed down the leaves with vinegar and pepper.  All good.

This week we will try cabbage rolls with rice or a type of tamale with masa (maize paste used in tortillas). Will see if they turn out.

Interesting note. Evidently duck eggs are seen as having special nutritional or beneficial properties. Yeni's little girl, Ady, was taught by her grandmother how to tap one end on the table, make a small hole and suck them down. She does so with gusto ... while her mother tries to look as if it is nothing unusual.

Fish still living. We have ten in each tank now. Our middle tank was not thriving as well as the other two. We found out why. When we bought the fry, the man threw in a few extra. It turned out that, while there were 10 in the other two tanks, there were 90 in the middle one. Good news. They were living. They were growing (very slowly). They were making do on Moringa powder.

For any readers who are not aware, http://www.whatisinyourhand.org/  Ideas for Hope, a website with my textbook and various booklets is up and running.

TTYL

BB