Aloe juice how-to.
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 10:12:35 -0400
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Shirley Traite <traite.SDAC.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Intro and question re: Aloe
Hello All!
This is my first posting to this list. I've been lurking for just about a month now and I am finding everything quite interesting. If experience is any indication I will probably mostly lurk but you will most likely hear from me from time to time.
I've been growing and using herbs for over a decade but have only in the past year and a half felt confident enough to use them medicinally. I am learning a lot from you all! Thank you so much.
I have a few questions I thought someone might be able to help me with.
They concern the aloe plant. (Sorry I don't have the latin name here at my work place.) The first (two part) question I have is: Does anyone know how to store the extracted juice/jelly from the plant?
Additionally, how long will extracted juice/jelly last?
My second question is in regards to propagation. I've noticed that my aloe plant (currently about 2.5 feet tall) is growing babies at it's base.
Can I safely just dig them up and stick them in moist soil in another pot?
(I did that with one baby about 3 weeks ago but it hasn't developed roots yet.)
From: Michael Bailes <adamtfg.OZEMAIL.COM.AU>
> Does anyone know how to store the extracted juice/jelly from the plant?
Lasts about a week in the refrigerator. use glass jar
>Can I safely just dig them up and stick them in moist soil in another pot?
You probably have Indian Aloe with orange flowers. Put babies in own pot in spring. splitting at cold times of year not as successful.
From: MaryEllen Drewes <SunnyMED.AOL.COM>
Regarding aloe extraction:
You can put whole leaves in the blender and puree. It will be good, kept refrigerated, for at least a month. For a cough suppresant and to open congested chest: Take a liter of honey, the juice of 6 lemons and one liter of aloe puree. Mix and drink (from a cup, since it is too slippery to stay on the spoon) about an ounce in the morning and evening.
From: MARIA A TURCO <TURCOMAR.LANMAIL.SHU.EDU>
Hi everyone!
Regarding aloe, I saw a post that reccomended putting a whole leaf of aloe in a blender - YUCK!
I have been going to Aruba for 18 years, I have used alot of aloe. There I found very large and thick leaves. If you cut it and squeeze it - the smell is reminiscent of bad body oder, or campbell's chicken soup! The stuff that stinks is the yellow liquid that oozes from the green leaves. Wrapped within the green leaf is a clear jelly. This stuff has almost no odor. I do not know if I am missing out on any important properties by avoiding the green part, I do not know how long it is good for. Here's what I do know...
If you cut off a leaf at the base, then cut at one of the edges up along that edge to the tip, then cut accross to the other edge (to remove the strip that is flat), then you have a ) ?curved shape filled with the clear jelly. If you take the Jelly out of the leaf, it is hard to break the big glob into a liquid so I always took a spoon and scraped it (that makes it liquid) and let it drip into a jar or bowl.
My aunt in Venezuela takes a mayonaise jar, fills it with the aloe, and screws it into her blender in place of the glass pitcher (take it apart, you should be able to do that), then she blends it. In a regular pitcher blender it is difficult to break into a liquid because there is too much room and the aloe chunks get away from the metal at the bottom of the blender. You also loose alot that way.
Sorry if this was hard to understand, but it is hard to explain without being able to draw it! flat part? I) ?curved part (a cross section of the leaf)
From: MaryEllen Drewes <SunnyMED.AOL.COM>
Whoops! Sorry about that!
I forgot to mention the step before whirling everything the blender. You do need to peel the aloe before pureeing it. Thanks for catching that ommission, hopefully before anybody used the recipe.
