This is such an easy plant to grow, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t fill their gardens with them here in Portugal. Not only are they good for filling up big gaps, but they are easy to thin out if they get out of hand by just trimming off the excess ‘offsets’ or ‘babies’.

Mature plants of four years or more will bloom, so if you see no flowers on your plants, it may be they are just too young yet. They are ideal for Portugal - the care needed is only sunshine and little water, so they don’t need much watering. Outdoor varieties have been known to live well over two decades. Without enough sunlight, they may never flower, so ideally they should be planted somewhere with bright natural light.

Most aloes have a rosette of large, fleshy leaves, and flowers come in colours ranging from white, yellow, orange, red and even pink. The flowers are tubular and form in clusters on tall stalks that rise from the rosettes. There are over 500 species of aloe, some have the most beautiful swirly growth patterns and shades of green, and most have spiky or serrated edges. They grow abundantly in tropical climates and one in particular has been used for centuries as a medicinal plant.

Aloe Vera is an easy plant to grow in Portugal

To use for its health benefits, it's imperative to choose leaves from the edible variety only, Aloe vera barbadensis miller, and not from other aloe species, as these may be toxic and obviously not fit for eating. It's generally safe to eat the gel of this one, as well as the skin.

The juice is a gooey, thick liquid made from the flesh of the plant leaf. It’s commonly used to treat sunburn, but drinking this in juice form apparently provides you with a multitude of other health benefits, reputedly good for general rehydration, constipation, liver function, heartburn, clear skin and general good health, and helps healthy bacteria in your gut.


You can make your own juice

Aloe Vera juice commercially produced is made by crushing or grinding the entire leaf of the aloe vera plant, followed by steps to purify and filter the liquid. With a mild flavour, the juice mixes easily into smoothies and shakes.

It is safe to make your own, but you do need to be aware of the side effects – which should be researched thoroughly.

From a large Aloe Vera barbensis miller, cut a leaf from the outer side of a healthy plant with a sharp knife, and you will see the leaf has three parts – the green outer skin, a yellowy latex layer (this is the dodgy bit), and the gel, which is clear and slippery. The leaves on the inside of the plant are still growing, so you don’t want to kill the poor thing off by removing new growth.

Beware of the oozy stuff

You’ll notice the yellowish sap called Aloin (the latex) start to ooze – it is both pungent and bitter, and apparently has potential toxic side effects that include diarrhoea and complications in pregnancies, so most experts recommend completely removing aloin from the leaves – place the cut leaf on a raised surface and let the aloin drip out for around an hour onto a plate or pot underneath, then wash the leaf under cool, running water. Then, using your knife, gently remove the skin and any remaining goo, in a similar fashion to removing the skin from a filet of fish.

Once all the yellow goo is removed, the gel and skin can be safely used as you wish. Rinse the remaining gel thoroughly to remove some of the bitterness, and ensure no tinges of green or yellow are visible. Blend the gel with water – ¼ to ½ cup of gel for every litre - and this can be flavoured with juice, such as pineapple, pomegranate, or even just lemon juice, as it doesn’t have much flavour on its own. Apparently, you can eat the green skin raw in chunks by poaching, blanching or steaming – I have never tried it, I prefer to just admire the plants as they grow in the garden!

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan