How to Use Fresh Hoodia
Hoodia is not difficult to prepare and no cooking is required. These preparation steps are intended to produce small portions of clean, fresh, thorn-free, raw hoodia slices; maintain the bioactive, bitter compounds in the plant material; avoid preparing more than can used at one time; and provide an ongoing supply from your plants by using sustainable harvesting methods.
Using Fresh Hoodia for Appetite Suppression
Expect Bitterness. A common name for hoodia in southern Africa is bitter ghaap. Ghaap is the Afrikaans word for hoodia and the bitter adjective is well deserved. Freshly harvested hoodia from mature plants is very bitter; don’t expect a culinary treat!
How it May Work. While scientists still aren’t sure how hoodia works to suppress appetite, it appears that specific receptors on consumer’s tongue must be exposed to the plant’s bitter compounds, generating the bitter taste sensation. Studies on animals indicate that at least one of the compounds in hoodia, the steroid glycoside H.g.-12, activates the human bitter receptors TAS2R14 and TAS2R14, and that induces the secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that suppresses hunger (Le Nevé et al. 2010).
That’s all hard to understand! So if you are considering using hoodia for curbing your appetite we would recommend first viewing the short cartoon video titled “Hoodia gordonii appetite suppression bushmen style” by Dr Sandy Evans, PhD of Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s based on the science, easy to understand and supports our suggested way of using it.
Suggested Use. Based on this information we suggest just preparing a bite-sized piece of it to chew or suck on and taste the bitterness for a minute or so. You can then spit it out if you want. The bitter aftertaste may linger for a while. This is the way it was originally used to suppress appetite by the indigenous people of southern Africa. Drying and making hoodia into pills and powders, mixing it with other foods like smoothies, or adding sweeteners and flavorings to mask the bitterness may interfere with how it may work.
Consuming hoodia as a dietary supplement may not be necessary or effective. In one study, consumption of drinks with purified Hoodia gordonii extract and its taste-matched control simulant (a mixture of ingredients simulating the flavor and bitterness of hoodia) both produced similar, insignificant food energy intake reductions in females in an in-patient setting. Subsequently, another study was conducted to determine if ingestion of capsules containing the bitter simulant would be effective. They found no significant differences in the intake of subjects consuming the capsules of simulant or placebos (Peters et al. 2016).
Storage. Intact, fresh hoodia cuttings can usually be stored for long periods of time – up to several months. Store them in a dry, well-lit area with the cuttings separated from each other so that the thorns aren’t puncturing through the skins, which may reduce storage time. Refrigeration is not recommended. In prolonged storage the cut ends and later the whole cutting will begin to wither but still retain their bitterness.
Harvesting Hoodia Cuttings
When your plants have developed several shoots of at least 3cm (1 inch) in diameter you can harvest the plant for use. For sustainable harvesting, allow the plant to get larger and initially remove not more that about 20% of the shoots or branches as only 1-2 cuttings for use. Fully grown hoodia plants can have many shoots and weigh up to about 30kg (66 lbs). Larger plants will allow harvesting of more and larger cuttings and will recover faster from harvesting.
To harvest cuttings use a clean, sharp knife cut off a vertical shoot with a downward slanted cut well above the soil line. This will help to prevent soil and fungi from getting in the wound. When the cut is made a gelatinous sap will emerge for a short period of time from the wound. Wash this off with clean water and allow the wound to dry. It may be dusted with horticultural sulfur to assist in preventing fungus but this practice is generally unnecessary. The wounds usually heal over without problems. When the plant has grown more new shoots additional cuttings may be taken.
Preparing Cuttings for Fresh Use
Most species of Hoodia have sharp thorns so you may want to handle the plants with leather gloves. When you are ready to use the cutting hold the large end with a gloved hand and remove the thorns that are arranged in elevated rows along the length of the cutting, with a vegetable peeler. Remove only the thorns; do not peel the cutting. Most of the medicinal compounds may be present in or near the skin. After removing the thorns, wash the cutting with clean water and inspect it to make certain that all of the thorns have been removed. It may then be sliced into cubes or thin slices for “hoodia chips”. Once the thorns have been removed the cutting and pieces have a short storage life so you may want to only remove the thorns from the end part of the cutting saving the rest for later use.
1. START WITH FRESHLY HARVESTED CUTTINGS
 Fresh Hoodia Cuttings |
2. REMOVE THE THORNS WITH A VEGETABLE PEELER AND WASH
 Hoodia Cutting with Thorns Removed |
3. CUT INTO SLICES
 Hoodia Slices Ready to Use |
4. BON APPÉTIT?
No, that definitely isn’t the right send off for your next meal if the appetizer was Hawaiian Hoodia™ served “Kalahari Style”.
It’s…. PERDRE L’APPÉTIT!
Other Culinary Use of Cuttings
Hoodia was also consumed by the indigenous people of southern Africa as a vegetable but probably only to a limited extent, mostly during times of food shortages. Some species were more commonly consumed than others and information about this is available on the species information pages of this website. Slices of hoodia can be used as a garnish or in small amounts as exotic vegetable. If they are going to be consumed be sure to remove the thorns.
 Hoodia Slices for Garnish (With Thorns) |