Moringa Olefera - has anyone ever heard of this?

[LaurenG]

It sounds like a great tree to have. I was very surprised at all the neat attributes it has.
I belong to the group listed below and they do send some interesting information. I've posted in case anyone wants another resource.

[e-mail]

Moringa Oleifera as an Eco-friendly Solution
============ ========= ========= ========= =====

Moringa Oleifera, commonly known simply as Moringa. Moringa is one of
eco-friendly plants that help the world hunger and sick people. It is
a soft-wooded tree that grows to about 20 feet tall, with corky bark
and small feathery leaves. Its root is just like a Japanese wasabi or
horseradish.

Moringa is entirely edible, from leaves to roots. The moringa plant
is drought resistant and grows practically anywhere around the world--
even lands with poor soil, near the sea and dry areas, and can even
withstand severe drought once the plant is established.

Seeds sprout readily in one week. Alternatively, one can plant a
branch and within a week, it will grow by itself with another sprout.
It is often cut back year after year in fence rows and continues to
thrive. Therefore, to keep an abundant supply of leaves, flowers, and
pods within easy reach, topping out is useful. Of course, it is
natural and understandable that water and fertilizer make it grow
better.

## Nutritional Value of Moringa

The leaves contain significant sources of minerals and vitamins A, B,
and C. It contains high levels of calcium, phosphorous, iron,
protein, with low fat, and low carbohydrates. Its iron content is
very good for anemia.

We like to believe that if we will plant moringa tree in our backyard
garden as well as all vacant lots around the world, there shall be no
food shortages and malnutrition problems.

According to other sources on the internet, Moringa has seven times
the vitamin C in oranges; four times the calcium and two times the
protein in milk; four times the vitamin A in carrots; and three times
the potassium in bananas.

## Culinary Uses of Moringa

Virtually every part of it is edible. The Moringa leaves are also
eaten as a leaf vegetable, particularly in the Philippines, where it
is called malunggay. It can be cooked in any various ways like that
of spinach. The roots can be pulled out and can be used as
horseradish. Flowers can be eaten as vegetable, or you can use it to
make a tea, and it provides calcium and potassium. From its seed,
quality oil called Ben oil is yield by pressing. The oil contains:
65.7% Oleic acids; 9.3% Palmitic acid; 7.4% Stearic acid; and 8.6%
Behenic acid. The oil is good for cooking and lubricating precision
machines such as watches and sewing machines.

So why I became interested in planting moringa? During the 1940s,
Japan suffered from food shortages. We used desiccated coconut powder
as bread flour mixed with edible grass powder. I can remember how
moringa leaves were dried and powdered to make a bitterly tasting
bread just to survive from hunger. However, it was good that moringa
provided hungry Japanese with enough nutrients.

How did we make bread out of moringa leaves? At first, rinse moringa
leaves and boil it for 4-5 minutes. Then, dry it either under the sun
or windy shade. Grind it and mix with any flour to make cake, bread,
or noodles. This makes a highly nutritious daily meal.

The leaves and flowers are nutritious and helps especially for
children's growth. Leaves can be dried and powdered, and mixed with
any flour to make nutritious cake and bread. Fresh leaves are cooked
just like any other vegetables, or be grinded for juice extract. It
is recommended that the juice be boiled for a minute to remove some
bitter taste and vegetable smell. Boiled juice is mixed with milk and
honey or sugar. Our Pyro-Energen staffs cook the grinded leaves with
chicken to make a good, tasty, and nutritious soup practically on
every daily meal. Oh, that's because our office fence is surrounded
by plenty of Moringa trees.

The ben oil from the seed can be extracted by pressing or mashing it
and boiled with water. Boiling it will make the oil float to the
surface of the water. Scoop it and you can use it as an excellent
cooking or lubricating oil.

Now, do not throw the mashed seed. You can use it for treating
polluted water.

According to the old folks and traditional healers, if eaten, grinded
seeds are good for detoxification of heavy toxic metals in the body,
although we do not have any clinical data for it. But certainly, it
is way better than those foot detox machines sold worldwide.

## Water Treatment with Moringa Seeds

Moringa seeds are also used for water treatment. As seen in the photo
below, the right PET bottle shows artificially made polluted water
out of kitchen wastes. When kept with grinded moringa seeds, the dirt
contaminated in the water settles after a few hours as seen in the
left PET bottle.

http://www.pyroener gen.com/articles 08/images/ water-treatment. jpg

Moringa's seed can remove hazardous materials from water. The use of
Moringa for body detoxification is also being studied by several
research groups.

According to some scientists, there are several ways to improve the
process of water treatment with the Moringa seed.

Here's the simplest way we knew from old folks:

Dried Moringa seed is grinded or mashed to extract Ben oil (the seed
can be used for water treatment even after the ben oil is extracted).
The ratio of seed and water depends on the purification quality and
speed. 100-200 seeds to a liter of water are recommended. Note that
bacteria cannot be eradicated by the moringa water treatment.

## Moringa for Medicinal Purposes

Moringa is galactagogue, rubefacient, antiscorbutic, diuretic,
stimulant, purgative, antibiotic, and antifungal. What more could you
ask for? It is really a fantastic and a wonder plant.

The seeds are good for hypertension, gout, asthma, hiccups, cancer,
body detox, and anti-aging. It also helps in increasing sperm count.
Oil extracted from Moringa flowers can also be helpful for arthritic
pains, and rheumatic and gouty joints. Its leaves are also used for
hiccups, asthma, gout, backache, rheumatism, and skin wounds and
sores. Moringa leaves are believed to increase the flow of mother's
milk, and good for constipation, ulcers, diabetes, and for
stabilizing blood pressure.

Moringa contains a compound known as Pterygospermin. It has powerful
antibiotic and fungicidal effects especially for skin infection. It
helps slow down skin aging, too.

Moringa contains antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties
effective for chronic swelling as well as trauma.

Traditional healers may know more about the effectiveness of these
herbs.

Proper use of moringa is therefore an excellent eco-friendly solution
for the world.

Now, you can call Moringa Oleifera an eco-friendly miracle tree of
the world. Let us save the world from hunger and from sick people.
Let us plant Moringa, today!

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
About the Author:
Junji Takano is a Japanese health researcher involved in
investigating the cause of various diseases since 1960. In 1968, he
invented Pyro-Energen, the first electromedicine device that
eradicates viral diseases, cancer, and diseases of unknown cause
effectively without side effects.
Free newsletter: http://www.pyroener gen.com/newslett er.htm
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as the entire
article remains the same as well as the resource box.

[windoe]

1. I am going to attempt to grow me one of these

wish me luck:)

[I Have A Dream]

2. It almost sounds like a miracle tree. We'd better watch...

out or some Big Agri company will find a way to patent it. :eyes:

Thanks for letting us know about it, OB. :)

[rumpel]

3. I had to look up the Japanese common name

It is apparently called "Wasabi no ki" the wasabi tree :) I have to see whether there are any botanical relations to the actual wasabi, which is a root of a water plant which can only be grown in pristine spring waters.
I also found that it refers to the common name of "Moroheiya".
I have heard about the Moroheiya" leaves - , but I did not realize that it had such a profound background, much less uses or even that it was a tree. All I know, is that many Japanese tell you that Moroheya is "healthy" (herushee) and you should eat it :) But they have many herushee foods, they advise you to eat. Some turn into fads so they come and go.

As a side note, I remember we religiously grew this gross fungus in a tea, which fermented tea was to keep you healthy in a dose of one scoop a day. It had this distinct vinegary taste. We had this huge jar sitting on the TV like a petri dish of alien amoeba brewing and growing. (It had be at a certain temperature - such as the warmth of the TV) At the moment I forgot it's name, but everyone was into it. Years later I believe they said it did nothing. So my prejudice of herushee foods made me unexcited about many of the claims, and I did not think much of Moroheya either - tells ya - what d'ya know.

It sure is a pretty tree...

[Sanity Claws]

5. Are you thinking of Kombucha?

Or something like that? I've heard about it but no way was I going to grow it.

[lildreamer316]

6. Kombucha - you can buy it at my local Food Lion now!

Seriously.

This is what they sell:

http://www.plumgoodfood.com/Pages/Item/?ItemID=6926&MainCategoryID=1675&CategoryID=1685

[rumpel]

9. that looks like a variation

here is the authentic one:

http://www.ozakiya.jp/goods_nomimono_047.html

it is a little salty.

:)

they do have it in pulver form, too, though

[rumpel]

8. No kombucha is simply a tea

made from seaweed. I do like it, even though it has been a long time.

There are numerous varieties of seaweed used in Japan, but this is the thick large leathery one. Broth is also made with it.

[LaurenG]

12. I just bought a bottle of Kombucha tea last weekend

The weirdest thing was that while I was asleep I told my husband "they're talking to me again", "they said get Kombuchi." (I usually fall asleep immediately while he watches tv).

He wrote it down and figured it had to be kombucha. Lol! Now, I just want to know who "they" are.

[Cleita]

4. I hate to be a Cassandra, but it could be an invasive plant that

suffocates out native species. I think I need much more information although, anything that is drought tolerant usually makes it on to our property. I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on this OhioBlues, but I'm always wary of an unknown species that can get out of hand. We here on the west coast have had our problems with bamboo, pampas grass and other plants that are often pretty and useful but can grow uncontrollably if not kept in check either by vigorous pruning and dividing or natural predators.

[LaurenG]

13. There is some thought that you could be correct about this

One brief side note that is definitely worth mentioning, however, is the possibility that cultivation of moringa as an exotic species will lead to it becoming an invasive species, therefore negating the positive aspects it presents. On the PIER (Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk) page regarding moringa, it is portrayed as a potential danger to sensitive ecosystems because of its success at naturalization. However, it has not been yet proven to be a weed species and more monitoring needs to be done to see if this may be a possibility.


http://peacecorps.mtu.edu/resources/studentprojects/moringa.htm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I emailed this thread to our Naturopath

who is also an herbalist and homeopathic physician. I think she'll find it fascinating. Thanks for the information!

[WhiteTara]

10. sounds great...where is it's native home?

I would love to buy some seeds.

[Shallah Kali]

11. Only grows in USDA Zones 9 & 10 - wikipedia entry link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera

This site might be of interest

Plants For A Future - 7000 useful plants
Plants For A Future is a resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses.

htp://www.pfaf.org/

[Stevepol]

14. Contact Trees For Life of Wichita Kansas

TFL has been engaged in efforts to get the moringa tree investigated scientifically as to its effects on people (food and drink) and animals (used in feed).

TFL would gladly send you or anybody else some brochures and pamphlets that they have prepared about this tree and have sent to individuals around the world. They have also initiated some research themselves to see how the leaves of the tree can be dried and added to food or beverages. The leaves are highly nutritious and could be very helpful in reducing malnutrition in the areas where the trees grow naturally, and where malnutrition is greatest around the world. Those two areas, the area where the trees grows and the area where malnutrition is greatest, almost perfectly match.

Check their web site: www.treesforlife.org

Or write or call them.

Trees For Life
3006 W. St. Louis
Wichita KS 67203
Phone: [phone]

[LaurenG]

15. Thank you Stevepol!

:7

[Ecumenist]

16. Why, yes, I have heard of Moringa... In fact, I have some dried roots

It's utilised in many Asian herbal medicine traditions.