The Moringa Oleifera tree can reach 7 meters in height and has an erect and branched trunk at the base, soft and spongy with pendulous, thin and intertwined branches. The robust leaves are multi-compound, light green below, pale green above.
The roots have a strong smell and taste of radish (hence its other name horseradish tree or Radish Tree). The creamy white flowers are small and numerous and highly ornamental. The fruits they are large, triangular-section pods, green and soft if immature, ocher and brown when ripe.
The incredible thing is that practically the whole plant is edible: the leaves are very rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals, they have a slightly spicy taste. They are often made in salads, but can be cooked like spinach. They contain 25 percent by weight of proteins (more than eggs and double that of cow's milk), four times the vitamin A of carrots, almost eight times the vitamin C of oranges, triple the potassium of bananas.
This protein contribution suggests that it can be a useful support for pregnant women and for human breastfeeding in conditions of poverty and difficulty. As for the fruits, the most popular and frequent use is the preparation by boiling the immature pods (called "drum sticks") whose flavor is very similar to that of asparagus.
In Siddha medicine they are considered to be powerful aphrodisiacs. The seeds come boiled or toasted and they taste like chickpeas. The extraction of oil from seeds is a very important resource: the seeds contain from 30 to 50% of oil (olives from 8 to 20%). The extracted oil contains 65 to 76% oleic acid which is the same unsaturated oil as olives. The oil is sweet and tasty and does not go rancid. It is perfectly suitable for human nutrition.
Extracted the oil from the seeds, the residual paste contains 60% of valuable proteins. This is an enormous quantity if we consider that the residue of the analogous treatment of soy (a product of good vegetable protein quality) produces from 30 to 35% of proteins, whose range of amino acids, as for the great majority of the other known vegetables, it is incomplete. The proteins obtained from the residual pulp are suitable for human nutrition.
The roots are also edible and as mentioned their flavor is similar to that of radish. The spicy aroma of the roots is more pronounced than that of the leaves. The common use of the roots is that of flavoring, (analogous to horseradish), but, due to the presence of an alkaloid (the spiroquine) that would interfere with nerve transmission, its use in excessive quantities is not recommended.
The flowers are also edible, as a rule they are prepared in salads. Moringa is also a melliferous plant and therefore honey can be produced from its flowers. It is of great importance that the protein content of the parts of the plant is complete, (ie it contains the whole range of amino acids, even the valuable ones). This fact is almost unique among plants and Moringa oleifera can be defined as the only existing plant (known to date) with these characteristics.
Moringa Oleifera resists drought and can grow in a wide variety of soils, even poor ones and on sterile soil; in soils of good fertility and moderately irrigated it can have a remarkable growth. It has no soil preferences regarding Ph (acidic or alkaline soils) going from pH 4.5 to 9.0; it develops and can bear fruit in the first year of planting with abundant leaf growth. The plant absolutely needs well-drained soil, it does not tolerate flooded or asphyxiated soils. Exposure must be in sun or partial shade. Watering must be regular in the first year, then more spaced, but paying attention to stagnations that could cause the roots to rot.
For sowing, winter stratification is recommended but not necessary.