Eating aloe vera gel is very common in many Asian countries.  Yet it’s not very common here in the U.S.  If more people knew about the benefits of eating aloe vera, then maybe there will be more interest in it.

Fresh aloe vera gel leaf from the garden.  I like how it looks inside, very translucent gel hidden well inside the green outer skin.

The folks at Natural News had this impressive list for the benefits of eating aloe vera gel:

• Halts the growth of cancer tumors.
• Lowers high cholesterol.
• Boosts the oxygenation of your blood.
• Eases inflammation and soothes arthritis pain.
• Alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits.
• Cures ulcers, IBS, Crohn’s disease and other digestive disorders.
• Reduces high blood pressure natural, by treating the cause, not just the symptoms.

In 2006 study was done in Thailand showing the consumption prevents kidney stones and protects the body from oxalates in coffee and tea.  So this would be good for me as I drink lots of tea and coffee.

Here I will show you how to harvest and prepare aloe vera.

This is medicinal aloe vera.  Even if I eat one leaf a day, cutting the leaves only encourages more grow.  M would say I have a sustainable relationship with this plant.

This is another type of aloe vera plant, much smaller and grows very fast.  I haven’t eaten this version yet, but I do use it for skincare. To harvest the leaves, I cut the first leaves around the bottom in order of growth.  I don’t like to break the plant as I think it will cause stress for the plant.  And half broken aloe leaves don’t look too great.

Once you pick the leaves, they can be kept for a while as the gel remains sealed and fresh for a long time.  I remove the prickly spikes on the sides first then wash and clean the leaf.  I find that cutting it up in little pieces then removing the skin is much easier.  Also try to avoid the yellow sap near the outer skin, as it can stain your clothing and also irritate your  skin.

Here is the gel all chopped up.  It’s very slimy.  I boil this with some water then I drain it.  The reason for boiling (or at least heating it) helps the aloe vera gel to be less slimy and bitter. For the bitter part, other people say it’s not bitter at all.  So lucky for them!  I guess we all have different tolerance to bitterness or a different sort of taste bud.

I also find it’s less bitter when adding grape juice.  But this one I boiled with dried hibiscus flower, added honey, and some lemon juice.  It tasted pretty good!

Or you can always get the canned version. This was from Trader Joe’s, priced at 99 cents. It is not slimy at all and not as bitter.  Much more edible for the Westerner’s palate.  I think it’s because there is 21 grams of sugar syrup covering it up!