Need more leafy greens? Grow this mexican spinach at home

While organic food fetches a high price for farmers, many Berea residents don’t realise they could be harvesting their own organic produce from their own gardens. In a monthly series, Glenmore resident, Deon Braun shares his tips to grow fresh produce at home. This month Braun shared tips to grow Mexican tree spinach (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius).

Last month Braun sang the praises of the papaya, saying he’d choose it if he had space for just one tall food-producing plant.

“I should have said ‘fruit plant’, as there is another space-saving, vertically growing plant I consider to be the crown jewel of the plant world, and that is the Chaya or Mexican tree spinach (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius),” he said.

It’s easy to grow Chaya from cuttings in Durban’s subtropical climate.

”I’ve had zero pest problems, and each plant can keep producing the healthiest form of nutrition – dark leafy greens – for decades. It’s not a plant you need to replant every year. Unless you prune it (by harvesting the edible stem tips), a single stalk will grow into a large vase-shaped plant up to 4m tall,” said Braun.

He recommends keeping the plant half that size, by snapping off the ends of the stems, which will branch and form even more shoots and leaves.

Also read: Glenmore resident shares tips to grow papaya

”Each plant develops more stems as it ages, so eventually it has easily 100 stems with lots of edible tips. All the while taking up very little space on the ground,” he said.

”To harvest, I snap off 20cm of stem, which has the soft growing tip, leaf stalks and leaves. Then I wash and finely chop all of these, and microwave with some water added. There’s no finnicky separating leaves and stalks as with Chaya’s cousin cassava, so preparation is really easy and quick. It tastes great as a one-pot meal with garlic, soy sauce, nutritional yeast and spices, such as cumin,” explained Braun.

He said the lower portion of stalks that have been broken off can be planted elsewhere, simply by pushing them 20cm into the ground.

”They root easily, even if you have a brown thumb. They will produce shoots you can harvest after a few weeks – or let them grow larger and produce more stalks first. Chaya is drought-resistant too, although it does grow much faster with regular watering.”

Chaya for the win

Braun said that Chaya is extremely nutritious.

”A 1996 study published in the book ‘Progress in New Crops’ revealed that Chaya leaves had substantially greater amounts of nutrients than spinach leaves. Chaya leaf is especially high in protein, fibre, calcium, potassium, iron, vitamin C and carotene. The levels of nutrients in the study were two to three times greater than most edible leafy green vegetables,” he said.

“Some Mexicans on the Yucatán Peninsula refer to Chaya as their fountain of youth. It may also assist in the control of diabetes, but more studies need to be done to confirm this,” added Braun.

Braun said that acting on nutrition knowledge gives people power.

”The food industry tells us we need to buy their processed products, often ‘adding’ nutrients to ostensibly make them healthier, when all we need has already been provided in real food by nature, for a fraction of the price,” said Braun.

The Glenmore gardener said there are many reasons for residents to eat more greens, but the main ones are that they are rich in chlorophyll, contain thousands of phytonutrients, are high in fibre and contain an optimal blend of protein and complex carbohydrates.

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“Our digestive tracts use the fibre in plant foods to feed the trillions of microbes in our large intestine (colon). This organ is now considered our second brain, as it has a huge influence on both our physical and mental health, and is responsible for most of our immune system’s functioning. It’s a reality we can seemingly get away with poor nutrition for periods of time but, eventually, it causes what we experience as disease,” he said.

Braun said that once you start eating freshly harvested greens, you will not go back to produce wrapped in plastic, which has been losing its nutritional value each hour since it was picked.

Important facts

Chaya must be cooked because its leaves and stalks contain several anti-nutritional compounds.

“Heat destroys these. In addition to being cooked like spinach (just better-tasting in my opinion), the cook water from Chaya makes a deliciously savory and very healthy tea. The cooked leaves, likewise, have an almost meaty flavour to them, so people who like eating meat or dismiss greens as ‘rabbit food’ will love Chaya. Do not cook Chaya in aluminum pots,” said Braun.

Braun will host tours of his food forest in Feilden Drive to help people become more self-sufficient. Contact him on 082 377 4669 or email deonbrn@gmail.com.