Soursop! I love Soursop! Who doesn't right?? The fruit is delicious! So they say. Honestly to date, I've only experienced eating the frozen flesh of the fruit which I bought a few years ago from a shop somewhere in Alor Setar, Soursop fruit in powdered form which was said to be good for curing cancer and also Soursop fruit in the form of juice which can be found in many supermarkets nowadays. All of them are Soursop fruit that have been through some form of process. So I've never had the chance to try the fresh ones before in my life! Haha! Kesian!
All these years, I've been dying to eat the fresh Soursop fruit from our very own tree, because I was informed of it's great health benefits. Besides, growing them would be much cheaper than buying the fruit itself. They are SO EXPENSIVE to buy! I only thought that the only great thing about the tree is the fruit. Because that's what everybody is talking about. The fruit! Little did I know that not only the fruit is great for our health but so are the leaves and bark of the tree! Wow! Who knew!! It was not easy to grow the tree itself as many of the trees that we planted have died. We have bought so many Soursop trees over the years and some were given by our own good neighbours. Now, we have some that are struggling to survive. It's a real challenge to grow them I tell ya! Haha! I heard that they don't like strong wind so much. :D
Today I would like to share here what I found out about the Soursop leaves so far. And also what I've personally experienced from using it the past one week.
I was surprised to know that a lot of studies have shown that the Soursop leaves are even better than the fruit itself. They say that it is the most beneficial part of the tree. The people in the Caribbean have been drinking the Soursop leaf tea for ages! It's like a traditional thing for them to consume it. Whenever they feel a little bit under the weather they would drink this tea to help them feel better. No wonder they are so strong! I read a lot of articles and saw a lot of videos of people from the Caribbean saying that the tea is so good for the nerves. So people who worked long hours or who does a lot of physical activity would take this tea after work so that they can sleep well at night and feel better the next morning.
So, since my Soursop trees are still pretty small and not bearing any fruit for us to eat, I could at least use the leaves for making tea. I've heard about how good it is for curing and preventing cancer but I never knew that is was also for other health issues such as Gout, Back pain, Eczema, Rheumatism, Diabetes, it can boost the Immune System, inhibit the growth of bacteria, virus, parasites and tumors, treats inflammation and swollen feet, reducing fever and high blood pressure, aids in digestion and improving appetite, improves stamina, good for treatment of boils and lice on your hair. For me, I'm taking it for my skin and for something else that I rather not mention here, hahahaha :D.
I did a lot of research about the tea before consuming it. I wouldn't want to poison myself with it so it was really important to find out more about it. When I found out about how to make the tea and saw how so many people all over the world are taking it on a daily basis, I realize that it was actually very safe to consume after all. You can use the fresh leaves or air dry them first before making tea with it. It doesn't matter. What I also did find was that whatever tea we drink or whatever food we eat, do not OVERDOSE. That's why I only take one cup or one small mug of the tea everyday. It's better to do it that way rather than get too excited about the health benefits and overdose ourselves and thinking that the more we consume it, the better health we will have. It is so not the case.....so, less is more guys. Believe me, it's better to be safe than sorry.
How I make the tea is actually very similar to how I make the Lemongrass Pandan tea. All there is to do is boil water based on how many cups or mugs of tea that I plan to make/drink. Since I usually make one for me and my Mother, so it's always 2 mugs of water. I would bring it to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dump in the shredded leaves inside the boiling water. Lower the heat and leave it to boil for 5-10 minutes. Take out the leaves from the pan when it's done and pour the tea into the mugs. I usually would add some rock sugar to sweeten the tea a bit. And it's delicious!
I am pretty excited when it comes to talking about how wonderful the Soursop leaves are for the skin. I've experienced this first hand when I had a really big acne on my chin a few days ago. It was so painful!! I haven't had a big one like that in ages. So since they said that the leaves were good for the skin and acne, I decided to give it a try. What I did was, I used the dry mill to grind the leaves to tiny pieces. Then I would add in small amounts of rose water to it, to get the juice out of the leaves. Then, I would apply that on my face or any parts of my body that I felt needed the attention.
What happened after that really shocked me. I applied the extract of the leaves on my skin and left it on overnight, and when I woke up the next day, the acne shrunk and is no longer painful! Amazing!! The day after that, it totally disappeared! WOW! The effect was pretty fast!
I noticed that if you have itchy skin, that too can be healed with the juice of the leaves. No more scratching all day and all night. Especially if you have eczema, you should give it a try. It really works!
So that's all I have to say about the Soursop leaves for now. I'm just super happy that I get to use it for my health. All these years the trees were just there in our garden and we never knew the leaves could help us. I just wanted to spread the word and hopefully other people can benefit from it too. Take care everyone!
