The market · Vegetables · West Africa

Bitter leaves

The leaves of a West African shrub, washed and squeezed until only a pleasant bitterness is left — the leaf in the Igbo soup ofe onugbu.

bitter · green

What to do with it

Rosa Ibarra's Clarified milk punch, mezcal and pineappleBitter leaf would temper its sweetnessKenji Hara's Milk punch, with hojichaBitter leaf would temper its sweetness

Goes with

palm oilground crayfishstockfishtaro

Knowing it

Where to buy
African grocers: fresh, frozen, or washed and dried.
Worth knowing
Wash and squeeze repeatedly — the more you wash, the less bitter it gets.

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