Finally, the Real Pecah Beling !

Fresh Pecah Beling and Green Apple(blended)

Close up of Pecah Beling (Strobilanthes Crispus)

Below: Nadia with the plant, which travelled by road all the way from Penang!

Finally, the long "hunt" for Pecah Beling is over!!

And yes, it is VERY different in texture from the various leaves that I have been spying on during walks - the leaves may have looked similar but stark differences are obvious when I finally got to see the real plant. For a start, it is not a weed but an actual shrub plant with green almost woody stems. The leaves are deep green and feel really coarse, almost like sandpaper. I think if you have that plant at home, you can use it to scrub your pots and pans if you run out of kitchen sponge. And yes, the leaves are..........jagged.

Last evening I received my "supply" of Pecah Beling , a sackful almost! Enough plants for me to try( blend 25 leaves with half an apple, 3 times a week for its rich antioxidant property) and to use the stems to grow it in my shoebox of a garden. I was sooooo excited and so were the cats.

I had managed to call Lilly who grows the plant in Penang, she takes it religiously. As she was in Kelantan when I called, she suggested I contacted someone she knows in Penang who would be able to provide some to me. That I did, and that is how I managed to get a bountiful supply last night.

I was lucky that a friend was in Penang on business and she would be driving back to KL. So to cut a long story short, she was kind enough to collect the plants from the very nice person who supplied us with it.

The juice tastes quite pleasant ( of course I added an apple in case I get put off by its naked taste) and I think it is easy to get used to. It is non-toxic, and has no side effects, so it can easily be consumed like you would any other juice. Some people would take a few leaves, crush them, and leave them to steep(brew) in boiling water for 10 minutes to drink as a tea. Blending it is of course much more nutritious as fresh juices will retain the nutrients they contain.

Information on Pecah Beling is available at the http://www.melur.com/ website, so I will not repeat it here. It has received wide testimonials ( not controlled clinical tests) for being a helpful supplement to increase immunity and may be helpful in managing the health of cancer survivors. Some experiments done by USM ( on animals) have indicated that the extracts can reduce tumours . No tests have been done on humans yet but research on its properties is continuing.

Lets hope the scientists will be able to conclude their findings soon!