STEEMKIDS COMMUNITY AND STEEMWOMEN CLUB COMMUNITY JOINT CONTEST/SCENT LEAF PLANT ( Ocimum gratissimum), RECIPE AND ITS BENEFITS BY @adylinah /10% PAYOUT TO @steemwomensclub

Greetings to all the great women here in SteemWomen Club. It is my pleasure to take part in this contest and my warmest gratitude goes to @svm038 and @ngoenyi for organizing the contest. Today my content will be based on one of the plant that is commonly used by several people on different occasions which is called "SCENT LEAF PLANT".

DESCRIPTION OF SCENT LEAF PLANT

Scent leaf is a plant that is commonly found around us. This leaf is an aromatic herb and it is native to West Africa but spread to India and South east Asia. Its botanical name is "Ocimum gratissimum". This leaf has multiple branches from base and grows up to 1 to 3 metres in height.
It has shape like lance head and tapering at both ends.
When it grows to some certain stage, the leaf start producing flowers. The flowers which are fragrant with white to greenish-yellow spikes. Both the flower and the leaves of scent leaf plant are rich in essential oils and they also add fragrant flavor to salads, soup and other local dishes. They are also used in medicine to treat skin diseases, fever, cold, diarrhea and wounds. This plant is also known by different people with different names too. Nigeria; Yoruba locally called it efirin, nchuawu or Ahuji by Igbo, ntong by Ibibio, daidoya by Hausa. Jamaica called it African tea bush, Kemangihutan by Indonesia and ruku-ruku hitam by Malaysia. Other countries has their names as well.

HOW SCENT LEAF CAN BE USE

Scent leaf can be used for several things depending on what you want to use it for. It can be juice for stomach aches, cooking or for wounds treatment.

COOKING

Here is the pepper soup I prepared using scent leaf which add nice flavor to my food.
The ingredients used include;

• Pepper
• Salt
• Scent leaf
• Onions
• Maggi
• Goat meat

The procedures;

Step 1: After getting the leaf from our small garden, the first step I took was to add some ingredients (salt, pepper, onions and maggi) to the goat meat and steam till it gets soft.

Step 2: I added water to the meat into the pot, wait few minutes for it to boil then I added all the ingredients except scent leaf.

Step 3: Lastly, I washed, sliced the leaf, then add it to the pepper soup, leave it to boil for 2 minutes and my delicious pepper soup is ready to eat.

After that I boiled white rice for the pepper soup. You can actually eat it with yam or rice.

JUICE

Scent leaf juice is mostly used when someone have stomach aches. Although I enjoy taking it even when am okay. Here are the steps I took in making the juice;

Step 1: First of all, I washed the leaf thoroughly, rolled it with my palms, squeezed out the juice and filtered it into another bowl.

Step 2: After the filtration process, I add a little salt to it, stir for few seconds and then the juice was ready for drinking.

BENEFITS OF SCENT LEAF PLANT

This plant has much benefits to the human health which include the following;

• It heals wounds faster.
• It is helpful in improving the function of the heart.
• It is rich in iron, vitamin A and calcium which are essential for human health.
• It is good for treatment of fungal infections and also treatment of respiratory disorder.
• It promote normal hair growth.
• It is good for food preservatives like raw food in order to keep bacteria and fungi that can cause food spoilage away.
• It is also a good source of aromatics and oils.

In conclusion, being that I've used this plant severally in food , as juice for stomach upset and also in healing of my wounds which has been of great benefit to my health. I hereby recommend scent leaf plant for all the women and ladies here. Thank you!

@eliany, @nikkypeter and @toriasam please join the contest as well using this link.

Here is my introductory post link

Special thanks to;

@steemwomensclub
@svm038
@ngoenyi
@event-horizon
@saracampero