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By Michelle Bradshaw
(December 2011)
Chaya is very high in vitamins and minerals, much higher than its other green, leafy cousins. Cut the leaves from your plant with gloved hands, and boil. You can add chaya to shakes, stir-frys, lasagna, or any place you would add spinach. The chaya leaves must be cooked before eating as the leaves are toxic. Chaya should be boiled for at least 20 minutes to destroy the cyanide contained within the plant. Once cooked, chaya gives you more than three times the nutrition of other green leafy vegetables.
Eat your chaya today!
Percentages
are of minimum daily requirement*
|
%
|
Chaya
|
Alfalfa
|
Spinach
|
|
Protein
|
8.25
|
3.66
|
2.00
|
|
Crude
Fibre
|
1.94
|
3.12
|
2.07
|
|
Calcium
|
421.00
|
12.00
|
49.00
|
|
Phosphorus
|
63.00
|
15.00
|
30.00
|
|
Iron
|
11.61
|
5.30
|
5.70
|
|
Vitamin
A
|
8.52
|
0.74
|
2.48
|
|
Vitamin
B1
|
0.23
|
0.13
|
0.03
|
|
Ascorbic
Acid
|
0.35
|
0.14
|
0.10
|
* Information provided by the Mexican National Institute of Nutrition and by Sophie Annan Jensen's "Chaya, The Mayan Miracle Plant"
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