An unremarkable-looking aloe, or agave, has many healing properties. The plant allows you to provide first aid in many situations. Juice has useful properties. With proper storage, the concentration of valuable substances increases. How to save aloe juice at home, you can learn from the article.
Benefit
Considering the topic of how to save aloe juice at home, you should familiarize yourself with its beneficial properties:
- Anti-inflammatory, wound healing and bactericidal effect.
- Used in inflammatory processes of the skin: purulent wounds, burns, trophic ulcers.
- Improves appetite and improves digestion.
- It helps with gastritis, colitis, stomach ulcers.
- A mixture of juice with honey and fat is effective in the treatment of tuberculosis.
- The treatment of constipation.
The healing properties of fresh and condensed juice, as well as the leaves. But the value of the plant manifests itself only from the age of 3. For treatment, a healthy plant is used, which has no diseases and insects.
In the viscous juice, which is in the leaves of aloe, there are many vitamins and minerals. It contains vitamins B and E, provitamin A. Another juice is rich in vitamin C, amino acids, volatile, polysaccharides, salicylic acid, magnesium, zinc, manganese, selenium, iron. It is this composition that provides the beneficial effect of juice.
You should not carry out the procurement of raw materials from the agave, which was processed by chemical means. Aloe, which grew in an environmentally negative area, does not have such medicinal properties as a healthy plant. Leaves and juice are used externally and internally. Harvesting is allowed for future use, and for this you should know how to save freshly squeezed aloe juice.
Which plant is suitable
In nature, aloe grows in Africa, on the Arabian Peninsula. In Russia, it is known as a houseplant. Usually it is aloe tree, real aloe or aloe vera. The first and third species are just suitable for obtaining juice. Three-year leaves can be used in the treatment, but the concentration of valuable components there will be less.
Sheet selection
Not all trees and leaves have useful properties. To obtain juice, it is better to take a plant aged 2-4 years. We need lower, fleshy sheets that have reached a length of at least 15 cm.
Before you learn how to save aloe juice at home, you need to cut it correctly. Then the tool will be of high value. The slice is performed according to the following rules:
- 2 weeks stop watering so that the leaflets have a high concentration of nutrients;
- 3 days before the procedure, the shrub should be installed in a dark place;
- leaves are cut with a sharp knife at the base of the trunk;
- raw materials for juice are wrapped in dark dense paper and kept in the refrigerator for at least 2 days, and preferably 2 weeks.
Dry, damaged leaves are removed to maintain plant health. Only following these rules will a useful therapeutic agent be obtained.
Making juice
How to keep aloe juice at home so that it retains the maximum amount of valuable components? To get the elixir of a plant, it is important to go through the following steps:
- After holding the raw material in the refrigerator, it is crushed with a knife or a blender.
- The mass is poured with cold boiled water in an amount of 1 part aloe to 3 parts of water.
- Cover and leave for 2-3 hours in a dark place.
- It is necessary to squeeze the mass through cheesecloth, and the resulting product is poured into a glass container.
Juice should not be diluted before use, it can be used. To obtain a concentrated product, the dilution step is skipped.
How to keep aloe juice for a long time? Fresh product cannot be stored for long. It is poured into a bottle of dark glass, stored in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days. Is it possible and how to save aloe juice in other ways? Preservation with the use of alcohol, vegetable oil, honey is allowed.
Conservation
How to keep aloe juice at home in this way? For long-term storage requires preservation, which is done by yourself. It will require medical alcohol and fresh juice (1: 1). Filtered juice or pulp is poured into a sterilized container (dark glass) with sterile lids. The lids are closed and the container is refrigerated.
If the extract is purchased at a pharmacy. It is stored in a dark, cool place. After opening, the product is refrigerated. Do not allow exposure to air, since oxidation destroys the bactericidal effect of the extract.
With honey
There is another option for preservation without alcohol - sweet. Aloe juice and liquid honey are mixed in equal amounts. The products are placed in a dark glass container and refrigerated. You can use after 4 days.
Condensed - boiled and evaporated aloe juice - Sabur - is another method of preserving the healing properties. The bars or powder is placed in dark glass jars, closed in an airtight manner. From raw materials make tincture.
With butter
How to save aloe juice for future use in another way? The procedure is as follows:
- Leaves should be refrigerated for 12 days.
- Then juice is made from them.
- It is mixed with castor oil in equal amounts.
- Storage is allowed in the refrigerator in a sealed container made of opaque glass.
This ointment is used externally for the treatment of skin inflammatory processes. Although the remedy has a positive effect, it is best to consult a doctor before using it.
When storing aloe juice in a warm room and when exposed to light, it loses valuable properties. Such a product should not be used. Leaves lose their value a month after separating them from the plant.
Pharmacy product
In pharmacies, you can find a ready-made alcohol solution, which is sold in 50 and 100 ml. This tool also has a regenerative, adaptogenic, tonic effect. You can buy it without a doctor’s prescription.
Vials must be stored at temperatures up to 15 degrees. Shelf life of aloe juice purchased in a pharmacy is 2 years from the date of manufacture.
Application
Aloe juice is used for various medicinal purposes. But most of all it is effective in:
- moisturizing the skin and treating acne;
- the treatment of colds - with instillation into the nose and gargling;
- performing compresses from bruises, wounds, diseased joints;
- alkalization of the body and strengthening immunity (internal use);
- treatment and restoration of hair (rinsing);
- oral administration for treatment;
- treatment of gastrointestinal diseases.
Only some people may have aloe intolerance. This usually manifests itself in the form:
- red spots, skin rashes;
- severe itching;
- strong discharge from the nose;
- sneezing
- intestinal problems.
With these symptoms, it is urgent to abandon the use of medicinal products based on aloe, as well as consult a doctor. But most people have a positive reaction to the juice from this plant.
How to store leaves
You can harvest not only juice, but also leaves. Since the beneficial properties of light are destroyed, storage is allowed only in a dark place. To increase the shelf life of the product, a tightly closed container is required.
The leaves can be dried, and then the application period is increased to 2 years. Storage of this product is allowed at 18 degrees, but before that it is wrapped in cloth or paper bags.
Thus, aloe juice is a therapeutic agent that is used for external and internal use. It is important to learn how to harvest it. And thanks to proper storage, it will be possible to preserve valuable properties.