Wonderful Health Benefits Essay Example for Free

Wonderful Health Benefits Essay As the world becomes aware of all the wonderful health benefits of malunggay plant, the next question for many is how to use malunggay or moringa. Fortunately, malunggay is very versatile because one can enjoy all its benefits in a variety of ways. One of the best ways to ensure that one’s body gets to absorb all the goodness of malunggay is by drinking it as a tea. Malunggay tea is a very healthy drink because it is abundant with polyphenols or flavonoids, an effective antioxidant. If you cannot find moringa or malunggay tea in the market, you can buy or harvest (if you have your own moringa tree) fresh malunggay leaves and try making your own malunggay tea. The malunggay leaves to use should be so fresh with no signs of yellowing. How to Make Malunggay Tea You will need: Fresh malunggay leaves with no signs of yellowing (2-3 compound leaves) Clean Tray Clean sheet of manila or bond paper Basket with 2-3 cm. fine mesh Tea bags Air tight containers Procedure: Put the fresh malunggay leaves in a tray. Clean the leaves by dusting and sorting out any unnecessary particles.   Then lay out the leaves in a clean sheet of manila or bond paper. Put the malunggay leaves in an indoor drying shade and left it there for 2-3 days. Be careful not to sun-dry the leaves as it will destroy the vitamins and minerals in malunggay and affect the quality of the tea. The malunggay leaves will only be air-dried to wilt and remove excess moisture and it only needs a very light amount of oxidation. After the air drying, the next process is pan-drying. In this method, heat will be applied to the dried malunggay leaves by dry cooking it in hot pans. Minimal oxidation will happen during this process. To do this, heat the leaves in a pan with a very low fire to remove excess moisture and to sanitize it. The leaves should be constantly stirred and turned over for 2-3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook it. Put the roasted leaves in a transparent plastic bag. Seal or tighten the plastic bag and then crush the leaves until it turned to tiny powder particles. Pack the tea leaves in air-tight containers and store it in a cool, dark and dry place to maintain freshness. Proper packaging is a must because the shelf life of malunggay tea depends on it packaging. It also has the tendency to lose its flavor when exposed to air. To brew malunggay tea, you can put  ½ teaspoon of malunggay tea leaves and place it in a tea bag. You can buy tea bags in some Chinese drug stores. Then submerge the tea bag in boiling water for a few seconds. After that, put the tea bag in a cup and pour just enough hot water. Let it steep for 1- 3 minutes. One can add honey or sugar if desired. Enjoy your healthy moringa tea!