Stripping, Processing, and Squeezing Bitter Leaves in the Making of Anambra Soup

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Hello everyone 🫶💕

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Yesterday was so demanding for me that i was completely occupied throughout the day. I had little to no time to rest, but such is expected when one is the village for the Christmas holidays. We had gatherings after gatherings, attending events here and there, hosted friends and relatives.

I woke up early in the morning, knowing there were many house chores to be done, among which was the stripping of bitter leaf. To my greatest surprise, the price of bitter leaf in Anambra is really expensive this Christmas holiday, although it's normal for prices to hike during the Christmas season. The obvious reason is because we are in the season of celebration when big events such as marriage ceremonies, end of the year parties, family get-togethers and much more are taking place.

For my dear friends who have not been to Anambra, It is worth noting that bitter leaf soup is a major dish that should never be found missing at events in Anambra, unlike in other Nigerian states in the South East region. This bitter leaf soup is prepared with cocoyam as thickener, so it is obvious that the price of cocoyam will surge as well.

So, i had to quickly brush and wash my face with water. My mum was already at the backyard of the house stripping the bitter leaf when i joined her to make it quick. One common thing in the Anambra region where i live is that each household has a plantaintation of bitter leaf garden.

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Stripping the bitter leaf from its stem was not as easy as it looked, under the early morning sun, as i was not very skilled at it. I watch my mum doing it skillfully as if it was nothing.

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The stems were so tall that i had to bend them carefully to avoid breaking them. This caused me to keep my head up for a long time as i stripped the leaves, which really caused me neck pain.

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I actually break some stems but this was because the stem was infested with insect.

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Finally we were able to finish in time. The bitter leaves was spread in the shade to avoid burning from the sun. This is because squeezing the leaves immediately would cause them to break into tiny pieces. This is one major difference in Anambra bitter leaf soup, as they like the leaves long, while other states like Abia prefer the leaves in pieces.

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After some moments of rest, i began squeezing the bitter leaves. I really felt uncomfortable getting compliments from the neighbours, it was as if i was doing some kind of difficult task, but i didn't actually find it difficult, as i have gotten used to it, or maybe they hadn't seen a guy squeezing bitter leaves. The leaves were too much for one person to squeeze, so i had to divide it so my mum can help out.

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After squeezing for some minutes, i sieved the water away and added clean water. It was foaming too much, so to stop the foaming, i added few drops or red oil to it.

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It was already night, i suffered mosquito bites, but i was able to finish up and soak the leaves in water to be used the next day.

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Photo📷 was shot with Redmi Note 12

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Thank for viewing my post 🥰

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