Food Of The Day- Bitter Leaf Soup

A plate of bitter leaf soup

Bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) is a vegetable used for preparing the popular Bitter leaf soup. It is also known as Onugbu, by the igbos, Shiwaka by the Hausas and Ewuro by the Yorubas in Nigeria.

Although this plant has been around for hundreds of years, only a few people know of its medicinal and healing properties.

Bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) as the name implies, is actually a bitter plant whose leaves, extracts, stems and barks are used for culinary,medicinal and curative purposes.  
  
Vitamins in Bitter leaf includes;Vitamin A, Vitamin C ,Vitamin E, Vit.B1 and Vit.B2.
Bitter leaf soup is one of the most traditional soups in Nigeria. It is native to the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria.The name is quite misleading in that a well prepared Bitterleaf Soup should not have even the faintest bitterness. This is achieved by washing and squeezing the bitter leaves (and changing the water at intervals) till all traces of bitterness has been washed off. One will be deemed a bad cook if his/her Bitterleaf soup tastes bitter!