My Experiments

 

Gynura Tea Experiment

If you have some of my previous blogs, I am turning my backyard into a Gynura procumbens or Longevity Spinach farm.  After years of killing plants (there is a wives' tale that women with big hands kill plants,) I have something that I can grow; along with papaya trees.  I have sent cuttings of this plant and small starters all over the country to friends and family to see how it grows in apartments, balconies, rocky soil, cold weather, etc.     

I am also finding various ways to eat it.    My goal is to test if this plant can truly lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and curb your appetite.  I find that supplying Keith with 6 leaves a day (he likes to eat 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening) plus my morning 3 leaves means 9 leaves a day.  This is not an issue; I have hundreds of these plants in my yard; but what about someone who cannot grow it outside year-round like we can?  How can we supply it all year?

 The instructions say to eat 3 leaves, then drink a cup of warm water and wait 30 minutes before eating/drink (especially no caffeine for 30 minutes.)   I thought I would dry the leaves, then make a tea; adding cinnamon for flavor.  But you really don’t get the whole plant unless you tear open the bags and eat the leaves.  Well, mixing it with cinnamon means a rather messy job of eating; plus making the tea bags is time intensive and wastes a bag.

Instead, I’ve been trying this; I put 3 dried leaves in a cup of hot water and wait for it to cool enough to drink and then I chew and swallow the leaves.  I tried to get Keith to just eat the dried leaves and he spit them out with a big yuck!  But putting in the warm water seems to be working okay.

 Now, I'm starting to send out gynura tea.  The experiment is for my friends and family to compare the tea bags to the loose tea leaves and see what is more acceptable.  Can they eat the tea leaves afterwards? If you are interested in a 30-day supply to start the New Year out with right, just email me which is better for you (bags or loose) and I’ll try to supply you.  Of course, this is just a hobby of mine, so no charge!

  My next experiment is to grow this hydroponically in a jar.  If this works, I might ask if you want some hydroponic-ready plants and their feed.  Then you’ll only have to keep in a jar or vase inside and naming them is optional.