Curry Leaves

Wikipedia says that it is also popularly known as Sweet Neem Leaves or Helichrysum italicum.

I love the leaves fried, popularly used in adding that dash of aroma to dishes such as spicy or butter prawns in Malaysia. Each crunch finds a release of the wonderful aroma in one's mouth, and marry that with the rice ... yumm... it really makes every mouthful a real treat indeed.

However, I am warned that commercially grown curry leaves are rather lethal in that they are sprayed with loads of insecticides due to the nature of the curry leaves plant being easily attacked by bugs, ants and what have you's.

So do wash the ones bought from the market properly. Most homes in Malaysia will have a plant or two, especially when curry is such a staple to us all!

What I have been told about the curry leaves which I find most interesting, is it's apparently curative nature for diabetic wounds. It is claimed that a healthy bunch of the leaves, perhaps as much as one can hold on one hand, when boiled in a medium sized kettle or pot of plain water, and taken daily will help a person with difficult-to-heal diabetic wounds to heal. I have not seen this at work with my own eyes, but some folks i know swear by it. Apparently, taking the water helps the wound to dry up and heal, instead of the open sores and such progressing further.

The boiled water is simply taken as drinking water. Of course I think it would be best to make new batch daily. My apologies for the lack of measurement as to how much of the leaves and water, but it seems there is really no real harm to take this as long as it is required, for the wounds to heal. Having said that, the leaves do have laxative effect too.

As with anything, I always believe in having the wisdom of moderation, when in doubt.

There are many more interesting properties of the curry leaves. As one of the links below has suggested, taking 10 fresh mature curry leaves a day for 3 months will help to prevent hereditary diabetes from manifesting. Some curry leaves daily is claimed to help keep the grey hair at bay and many more...

I shall not duplicate the information when you can glean them from the links posted below. I did find out that information about the humble curry leaves out there is endless. Another of nature's wonder packed into such a tiny packaging.

Interesting facts:

Buzzle.com explains that, the curry leaf contains : 2.6% oil, beta-caryophyllene, beta-gurjenene, beta-elemene, beta-phellandrene, beta-thujene, alpha-selinene, beta-bisabolene, beta-transocimene and beta-cadinene.

Seems like a lot of goodness in such small leaves.

Storage:

The best way to keep store-bought leaves longer is to ensure the leaves are washed and dried properly before laying the leaves onto kitchen papertowels and stored in an opened container in the fridge. It can be frozen too but usually, frozen leaves appears transparent and brittle. So i prefer to have it in the fridge instead, where the leaves will be further dried and able to be kept longer.

Interesting links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_Tree

2. http://www.citras.com.my/community/mvalue/curryleaves.html

3. http://healthy-lifestyle.most-effective-solution.com/2007/04/29/the-curry-leaf-magic-in-the-kariveppillai/

4. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-16-2004-57909.asp