Whether you love its light, bitter flavor or want to savor its nutritional benefits, aloe vera is an ingredient that's taking the health world by storm. Here are our favorite aloe recipes, all made with healthy plant-based ingredients.
What is aloe?
Aloe is a succulent with distinctive spiny green leaves that grow in a rosette shape. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a cactus (all cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti!).
This plant tends to grow in hot, dry conditions, which is why it has developed an incredible ability to store water. So, although it may appear dry and tough from the outside, it stores an impressive amount of liquid within its leaves.
It does this by creating a gel-like substance that retains as much water as possible,
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Is the entire aloe plant edible?
Technically, you can eat whole aloe leaves, but we don't recommend it. First, you might confuse the edible aloe species (Aloe vera barbadensis Miller) with another, less pleasant-looking variety. Second, the skin is tough and not very pleasant to eat, although it can be removed.
Third, aloe contains a substance called latex or "sap," a yellow liquid that sits between the plant's skin and the gel inside. Its main component is a substance called aloin. This is extremely bitter and can have negative effects.
Aloe's reputation as a powerful laxative comes primarily from its latex. Not surprisingly, consuming too much latex can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, among other unpleasant effects. It can also damage the kidneys and even stimulate early labor in pregnant women. These are good reasons to avoid it!(1)
When people talk about consuming, eating, or drinking aloe vera, they're usually referring solely to the gel found inside the leaves. Indeed, that's where all the healthy nutrients reside. Therefore, we advise sticking to that and avoiding latex and skin contact.
Of course, if you want to avoid the hassle of removing the skin and latex, then crushing and extracting the inner sap from the leaves yourself, we highly recommend our Organic aloe juice !