Fruit trees with edible leaves

[FlyingFoxFruits]

http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1968-vol-81/318-329%20%28MORTON%29.pdf

This article by Morton is interesting

She says the leaves of a bunch of fruit trees are edible....
Mangoes, cashews, spondias (several species), Eugenias (and syzygiums ), emblic, antidesma, jackfruit, mulberry, soursop, sapodilla, persimmon ...and more...

[buddyguygreen]

cool info, im going to start adding some of these leaves to my meals now.

[Mike T]

Maprangs, kaffir, Bitter melon, choko, ambarellas.

[fruitlovers]

Very interesting. I need to carefully go through that article later. Thanks for posting it. Some others with edible leaves: Mexican avocado, surinam cherry (ok that is covered in eugenias). loquat, allspice, cinnamon.

[From the sea]

You can also cook and eat passionfruit leaves and the water that's left is a sedative
I use the young red leaves from the Suriname cherry to get rid of heart burn.
There is also a big difference between eatable and good tasting 

[zands]

http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1968-vol-81/318-329%20%28MORTON%29.pdf

This article by Morton is interesting

She says the leaves of a bunch of fruit trees are edible....
Mangoes, cashews, spondias (several species), Eugenias (and syzygiums ), emblic, antidesma, jackfruit, mulberry, soursop, sapodilla, persimmon ...and more...

I have not looked at the PDF. My guess she is referring to making a (medicinal) tea from some of those trees leaves. I doubt you can eat those leaves day after day without getting ill....that's my instant take

[Don]

Kiwis samoans and tongans i know use guava leaves made in a tea to get rid of a crook belly and rub blanched leaves on skin complaints to fix them. Havnt tried it myself yet but they all seem to swear by it.

[From the sea]

I make tea with guava all the time, but I have never used the leaves on the skin.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Zands,

give the PDF a read....

i would have thought the same thing, but she says almost all of them are eaten raw!

mostly new growth though...

and I'm sure an unlucky subject, could have a real nice allergic reaction (especially with anacardiaceae).

but people have been eating this stuff for hundreds of years, if not longer....

like Gorillas...lol

http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1968-vol-81/318-329%20%28MORTON%29.pdf

This article by Morton is interesting

She says the leaves of a bunch of fruit trees are edible....
Mangoes, cashews, spondias (several species), Eugenias (and syzygiums ), emblic, antidesma, jackfruit, mulberry, soursop, sapodilla, persimmon ...and more...

I have not looked at the PDF. My guess she is referring to making a (medicinal) tea from some of those trees leaves. I doubt you can eat those leaves day after day without getting ill....that's my instant take

[gunnar429]

Thanks for posting.  I have been hoping/wondering about this very topic for a while.

[ScottR]

Very Cool information thanks for posting Adam

[Raulglezruiz]

In Mexico guava leaves tea is popular remedy for several stomach illness among them diarrea....

[nullzero]

Thanks for posting, I have heard before the good to eat leaves suitable for salads are Bael (Aegle marmelos) and Baobab (Adansonia digitata). Growing Bael, but unsure if I have the room for Adansonia digitata. Adansonia digitata is tempting to grow, even if it never fruits (since the leaves are valued as a food).

[From the sea]

There are a lot of the plants mentioned with in walking distance of my house, time for some taste testing.

[buddyguygreen]

You can also cook and eat passionfruit leaves and the water that's left is a sedative
I use the young red leaves from the Suriname cherry to get rid of heart burn.
There is also a big difference between eatable and good tasting 

how would you prepare the suriname cherry leaves, raw, in meals, or tea.

[From the sea]

I just eat them raw, they taste resin-y but I like it.

[stuartdaly88]

Thanks for posting, I have heard before the good to eat leaves suitable for salads are Bael (Aegle marmelos) and Baobab (Adansonia digitata). Growing Bael, but unsure if I have the room for Adansonia digitata. Adansonia digitata is tempting to grow, even if it never fruits (since the leaves are valued as a food).

Baobab leaves are tastey in my opinion and it grows so slowly it does well in pot or as bonsai. It needs a long dry spell and is very frost intolerant so this lends it even more to a pot. I bring inside and give absolutely no water from March till September(early autumn till spring)
 You can completely bare root it for those seven months and store in a cupboard if space gets to be an issue with a big pot but they seem to like a pot that would seem way to small anyway with fast draining medium. Mine are still small about thumb thickness and +- 30cm tall so not alot of leaves to spare yet but what i have had was very good raw and steamed rivaled spinach!
The giant wild ones I see up north have never had leaves I could ever hope to reach and hunting season when I'm up there is also dry season anyway:(
Seeds have been a real challenge to germinate for me, mine came from a local nursery as "starter bonsai"

[Luisport]

I just eat them raw, they taste resin-y but I like it.

I like it too... i get a fresh flavour in my mouth.

[fruitlovers]

You can also cook and eat passionfruit leaves and the water that's left is a sedative
I use the young red leaves from the Suriname cherry to get rid of heart burn.
There is also a big difference between eatable and good tasting 

how would you prepare the suriname cherry leaves, raw, in meals, or tea.

Surinam leaves are great in tea. I wouldn't go eating large numbers of them out of hand. Ditto for soursop. I think soursop should only be used medicinally, not for hunger, as it can be dangerous, has alkaloid anonacin. There is a difference between edible and medicinal use. Morton wrote that 47 years ago, and she may not have known some things we know now, although she was a very smart lady and her specialty was poisonous plants.
BTW, just remembered that young noni leaves are also edible. A local restaurant even had a dish with noni leaves mixed in. I had to try it ofcourse! It wasn't very good as the noni leaves were a bit hard, chewy, fibrous. But may just be because they were not prepared properly?

[greenman62]

mulberry (high in minerals - excellent for chickens too)
Roselle hibiscus flowers and leaves  - lemon flavor
papaya leaves (more a medicinal) but young leaves can be used in cooking
white ginger - Hedychium coronarium, flowers are excellent in stir fry
strawberry and raspberry leaves
grape leaves are delicious

[huertasurbanas]

great topic, it's very important to me as we are building a food forest and use to grow many species as for instance persimon, eugenia uniflora, repanda, pyriformis, moringa, baobab and a lot of other myrtaceae as for instance guabiju, feijoa or guavas.

I tasted the baoba raw leaves today and surprised me with a good flavour, so I will be doing salads... the trees are small now, I hope we can grow them in pots.

2400 calcium /100 gr of leaves is a lot!

[stuartdaly88]

great topic, it's very important to me as we are building a food forest and use to grow many species as for instance persimon, eugenia uniflora, repanda, pyriformis, moringa, baobab and a lot of other myrtaceae as for instance guabiju, feijoa or guavas.

I tasted the baoba raw leaves today and surprised me with a good flavour, so I will be doing salads... the trees are small now, I hope we can grow them in pots.

2400 calcium /100 gr of leaves is a lot!

They are tasty hey!
I think they do well in pots the most important thing is that they have an absolutely dry period and it's fairly long as I said March till September works well here. Even mature trees are not frost tolerant so it's actually the easiest tree to protect from frost. Over potting drastically stunts growth.
I'd love to see some pics of your ones!

[Raulglezruiz]

Yesterday I tried some new red flush of my pitanga, very very bitter and strong flavor, not for me!! The ones I like are the new shoots of Dwarf Ambarella, tangy delicious!

[jcaldeira]

http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1968-vol-81/318-329%20%28MORTON%29.pdf

This article by Morton is interesting

She says the leaves of a bunch of fruit trees are edible....
Mangoes, cashews, spondias (several species), Eugenias (and syzygiums ), emblic, antidesma, jackfruit, mulberry, soursop, sapodilla, persimmon ...and more...

My neighbor's goats would agree with this list.