I have a few questions about the fresh leaves.
I've decided I would buy the white and green leaves for pain relief, but if I buy them fresh, how long do they keep?
I see how locals chew them fresh, by rolling them up, chewing them and then spitting out the fibrous material when their tongue goes numb.
Does the potency reduce if they dry out? If I happen to have dried leaves, can I pour hot water over them to make a tea?
Hey @patrickc good questions. I am one of the owners of kratomleaf.us we are the only vendors with fresh leaf from fully mature trees grown in the USA. https://kratomleaf.us/product/... Good pick on the white and green as that is generally what is most common on the trees this time of year. They will keep in the fridge for about 8 days and should be left in the bag if not using. Out of the fridge they will last about 5 days. If you find that you are not going to use all the leaf at that time then you can dry the leaf by placing inside of a paper bag and shaking daily for about a week. Then yes you can add water and boil for tea. I placed a recipe here on the sales site.
You will chew 3-5 the leaf for 5-10 min. After you can spit or swallow. You can devein if you like as they can be quite chewy but I normally don't. Something else the natives do is place sugar in the center of the leaf. When chewing this turns the leaf into a sort of paste that helps with the bitterness of the leaf. The more bitter a leaf is the stronger it is.
@patrickc in a sense of size yes. A larger leaf will be better then a smaller. But I wouldn't determine it as the only factor. As the tree it is grown on or how mature the leaf is will make more of a difference
