Chaya is a little known leafy green vegetable of dry regions of the tropics, and is a large leafy shrub that reaches a height between 6 and 8 feet. The name comes from the Mayan chay, and it is a favorite garden vegetable of the ancient Maya because it is easy to grow, and can be easily reproduced by propagating stem cuttings from another plant. Other common names are tree spinach, chaya col, kikilchay, and chaykeken. 

Chaya is considered the second wonder plant of the century. Brought down from the Mayans to southern Mexico, Texas seems to be the only region in the United States that knows Chaya exists. Researchers have documented that the chaya plant contains powerful doses of vitamins and minerals, about 10 times the minerals of other healthy vegetables. Chaya grows easily and it’s a beautiful plant that can adorn any garden. It limits itself to about six to eight feet tall. Chaya is very easy to grow, very hardy, and suffers little insect damage. The plant is tolerant to heavy rains and has good drought tolerance. You should never harvest more than 40% of the leaves from a single plant. It is best to harvest the leaves from a few plants in your garden. The Ancient Mayans considered the chaya to be not only the perfect food, but also their top herb used in all illness. Chaya will most likely become the most important crop of the future.

As food and as medicine, chaya brings big benefits to the human organism. Some of them is to improve the blood circulation, help digestion, improve vision, disinflame veins, help lower cholesterol, help reduce weight, prevent coughs, increases calcium in the bones, decongest and disinfect the lungs, prevent anemia by replacing iron in the blood, improve memory and brain function and combat arthritis and diabetes. Chaya is also known to eliminate cancer cells because of the presence of hydrocyanic acid. A big hope for diabetics, Chaya has been used by locals to control sugar levels. A recent study by Texas University pointed out that an induces diabetic rabbit could be brought back from high level blood sugars to a normal range with in a few hours. Janie Vela, blood tester for the Star County Health Studies office was quoted as saying to Larry Rowe of the Valley Morning Star. “ Several patients who drink Chaya tea have stopped taking their medications for diabetes.

Chaya leaves are prepared much like spinach. Chaya must be cooked, however, because of the presence of cyanogenic glucosides . You can boil Chaya for about 10 minutes, with a bit of salt to preserve vitamin c levels, steam, fry, or microwave for 10 minutes and that will remove any toxins from the leaves. The use of gloves during harvesting is suggested to protect your hands from tiny spines that are on the leave, these are eliminated after cooking. Some varieties of Chaya that are grown do not have spines on them at all. Younger leaves and a bit of the stems are cut and used much like spinach. Large leaves are cut into smaller pieces before cooking.

Chaya Plant