AIBIKA ABELMOSCUS MANIHOT OR HIBISCUS MANIHOT food and dietary plant with its edible leaves and medicinal plant easy to cultivate
Pacific cabbage or aibika, bele or pele in the South Pacific islands seems to originate from Asia (China or Indo-Malaysia according to botanists); It is a small tree or shrub cousin of hibiscus or okra with which it shares the same types of well-developed and ornamental flowers.
Its foliage is quite varied depending on the cultivar, 15 to 30 cm wide and with 5 to 8 more or less indented lobes, pale yellow to white flowers with a purple center, which can reach 10 to 12 cm in diameter, elongated capsular fruit (4 at 5 cm) containing the seeds.
ABELMOSCUS MANIHOT FOOD AND DIETETIC PLANT
The great interest of Abelmoschus manihot is its leaves and young shoots, which are perfectly edible and dietary, especially for their content of assimilable proteins (5 to 10%), vitamin or provitamin A, calcium and iron (this is the “steak” of the islands told me a resident of Vanuatu).
Young leafy branches are harvested when the first leaves (leaves at the base of the branch) are fully developed.
You can also pick the young leaves and their stem without cutting the branches.
The leaves and young stems are lightly cooked (like spinach), no more than 4 to 5 minutes.
Cooking for a little too long gives them a less appetizing appearance and consistency because they are more mucilaginous, “gluey”, hence sometimes their local name: “slippery cabbage”.
Their neutral or slightly aromatic taste allows them to be incorporated into most dishes.
In certain Pacific islands, it is a staple food which supplements the daily carbohydrate intake, monotonous and somewhat bland from taro, yam, sweet cassava or vegetable bananas.
They are preserved in Fiji.
Unlike the foliage of the majority of trees, the young leaves of the cabbage do not contain irritating substances (such as oxalates for example) nor bitter, toxic or astringent substances (examples: alkaloids, tannins or saponins)
AIBIKA, ABELMOSCHUS MANIHOT OR HIBISCUS MANIHOT, MEDICINAL PLANT
In Asia (India, Nepal, China, Japan) ABELMOSCHUS MANIHOT is also considered as a medicinal plant.
It is appreciated for the mucilages it contains and is used in the composition of several traditional Chinese medicine remedies.
The Chinese use flowers, seeds and to a lesser extent leaves and roots.
Indications are made according to the Chinese diagnostic method.
– Urinary disorders (cystitis, lower urinary tract infections, cystalgia, frequent urge to urinate) are quite often cited.
Example of dosage:
Dry flowers: in decoction 5 to 15 g per day, in powder 3 to 6 g.
Dry seeds; in decoction 10 to 15 g and in powder 2 to 5 g per day (this is also an indication of nosebleeds according to the Chinese).
Fresh leaves: 30 to 50g per day.
– More generally in many countries where ABELMOSCHUS MANIHOT is present, the leaves are used fresh or lightly cooked for their softening, anti-inflammatory and slightly analgesic properties.
– Externally applied to inflamed areas: first and second degree burns, dermatoses (insect bites, skin disorders caused by contact with stinging or caustic plants and you can even try it on an outbreak of eczema)
– The leaves and young branches are softening due to their mucilage content and are therefore useful for calming many digestive disorders: gastralgia, mucous colitis, constipation.
Example of dosage: 50 to 100g of fresh leaves cooked in water for ten minutes or more to dissolve the mucilages (a little sticky). drink the cooking water and the softened leaves.
In 2006 and 2009, Chinese researchers demonstrated the protective role of a flavonol (part of the flavonoids or yellow pigments) of Abelmoschus manihot, hibifolin, for neurons.
This compound also present in other plants seems to attenuate in vitro the toxicity to nerve cells of the beta-amyloid peptide of Alzheimer’s disease.
CULTIVATION OF AIBIKA Abelmoschus manihot
In tropical regions, Abelmoschus manihot is mainly propagated by cuttings, so there are many clones with very different leaf morphology.
At the start of the wet season, 50 cm branch fragments with several buds are planted by pushing them in halfway.
Vegetation resumes in 2 to 3 weeks and growth is rapid.
We can also use seeds which germinate in two weeks and which are sown in place or in seedlings.
Cultivation can be intensive and commercial, one plant every 30-100cm, rows spaced one meter apart, or on the contrary well spaced giving the shrub space to develop.
In countries close to the equator the vegetation is almost permanent and leaves can be harvested all year round.
In areas with slightly cold winters, pacific cabbage is grown as an annual plant from seeds.
Yields depend on the quality of the soil and amendments: between 5 and 40 t of leaves per hectare per year.
Abelmoschus manihot is an interesting shrub to grow in a pleasure garden or a vegetable garden for its habit, its flowers and its edible leaves, if it is allowed to develop it can reach several meters in height.
Other edible species close to the botanical point of view are cultivated in warm regions: Hibiscus esculentus (okra), Abelmoschus caillei (West African okra), abelmoschus moschatus (or ambrette).
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