The Indians are people who know well about the best herbs and spices. Karpooravalli leaves are common herbs found in the Indian cuisine and also in some Asian’s cuisine such as Thailand and Vietnam. The unique smell of karpooravalli leaves and the medical properties contained in these leaves made the benefits of karpooravalli leaves well known worldwide today.
What Are Karpooravalli Leaves?
Karpooravalli leaves are herbs commonly found in the Indians’ kitchen because the leave is edible and tasty for cooking but also well known for its medicinal properties. Internationally, karpooravalli leaves are well known as Mexican mint from the family Lamiaceae with scientific name Plectranthus amboinicus, so it is similar to mint leaves while people familiar with the health benefits of mint leaves, Mexican leaves are still not really well known. This plant is originated for Eastern and Southern Africa but now has been cultivated worldwide. Moreover, this plant is easy to grow and Asian people love to grow it in the small pots.
Nutritional Values of Karpooravalli Leaves
Some studies have conducted to find out more about the benefits of karpooravalli leaves and the leaves are excellent to be made into essential oil due to some active compounds such as carvacol, thymol, undecanal and so on. To get more information the list below will tell you in details about the benefits of this herbal plant.
- Home Remedy to Cough, Cold and Sore Throat
Common cold, cough and sore throat occur due to infection of viruses. The weather condition could affect the condition significantly. However, since ancient time karpooravalli leaves have been well known as home remedy to this kind of condition. For adults, could consume or chew the raw and fresh karpooravalli leaves and for kids could be mixed with their favourite soup.
- Treats Mild Asthma
Karpooravalli leaves are also well known to help reducing the symptoms of asthma. It would cure the condition magically but it is super effective to make this condition a bit bearable. Just heat the leaves and place to the chest to help reducing the symptoms. The strong aroma of this karpooravalli leaves are also excellent to open the chest or nasal congestion.
- Good for Indigestion Problems
The antibacterial agents found in karpooravalli leaves are also excellent to help treating some indigestion problems such as stomach pain and natural way of how to prevent diarrhea. For fast result, you could just wash the leaves thoroughly and consume them directly or for those who cannot stand with the strong aroma or the leaves could be mixed into food or made it into herbal tea.
- First Aid for Insect Bites
Insect bites could cause itchy and swelling skin, especially those who are allergic to insect bites the effect could be severe. For first aid for insect bites just grab a handful of karpooravalli leaves and apply them to the bitten area. In some people, it won’t effective completely but the anti-inflammation properties may help reducing the swelling while the anti-bacterial agent will prevent it from further infection.
- Contains Anti-Inflammation Properties
Some studies have stated that karpooravalli leaves contain some potent anti-inflammation properties. Though there is no further study regarding the effectiveness of those properties in fighting inflammation but for external use like swollen skin caused by insect bites karpooravalli leaves are proven to be effective.
- Insect Repellent
In tropical region where mosquitoes could kill you, finding karpooravalli leaves planted around the house, in the back yard, in the pots as ornament are common thing to see. It is because this plant is excellent and the best insect repellent. This solution is much better and natural way because though insecticide is effective but could be harmful for environment and also human health especially those with little children in the house.
- Great for Hair
Those who are so depending on commercial products for their hair may not know that karpooravalli leaves are also excellent for hair. The strong and fresh aroma of karpooravalli leaves are excellent addition to your shampoo. Some people claim that by adding karpooravalli leaves to their shampoo will make their hair smell better in longer time, while others said the antibacterial agents found in karpooravalli leaves are also effective to clean the scalp from dandruff.
- Made Into Essential Oil
There are a lot of benefits of essential oil for human health but most people are only familiar with certain essential oils only such as the health benefits of lavender oil or health benefits of rosemary essential oil. Speaking of essential oil, this type of oil is excellent for body massage and at the same time is also great to maintain the skin health to keep it soft and young in longer time. Furthermore, essential oil made from natural ingredients could reduce the risk of allergic or rashes in the skin.
How to Grow Karpooravalli Leaves
Unlike others herbal plants, the best way to consume karpooravalli leaves are when they are still fresh. So, instead of keeping the dried ones most people prefer to grow them in the pots so whenever they want to use it, they could pick the fresh ones.
- Prepare a pot with a good soil and plant the stem.
- It doesn’t require a perfect care or even fertilizer.
- You just need to water it regularly in daily basis especially during the hot summer days.
- Make sure the plant gets enough sunlight but not too much. It is better to place it under the shade to avoid it from direct sunlight.
In some countries, it is not easy to find karpooravalli leaves in the marketplace unless in your neighbourhood you have a specific store that sells herbs which mostly run by the Indians or the Asians. That is why since karpooravalli leaves are among the most important herbs for home remedy, grow it yourself is highly recommended.