If you’ve bought or planted your own aloe plant and found success with thick leaves, you might be wondering “what’s next.”
It’s time to reap the benefits of your green thumb by getting out the important essences of your aloe plant, the gel. It’s actually a lot easier than you’d expect too.
Start by taking a think leaf, the biggest one on your aloe plant and getting some shears so you can cut it off from the base without pricking yourself on the sharp thorns on the side.
How to Harvest Aloe Vera
After you have your aloe leaf you have to avoid some common mistakes that people do. Know that aloe leaves contain a yellow sap, called aloin.
This stuff is strong and bitter. If you ingest it, it’ll cause some major stomach aches so you need to avoid this stuff by holding down the cut end of your aloe leaf and letting the yellowish stuff drain out. Doing this has the added bonus of making your aloe mixtures sweeter.
Next, wash your leaf and cut off the edges with the thorns. You should then take a very fine knife and cut off the skin from all other sides of your leaf. You should now there’s a yellowish layer underneath. This also needs to be cut away.
You want to stop when you reach a clear white layer of translucent skin. This is the core and what you’ll want to use for all your homemade aloe products. Give your newly cut aloe leaf a good wash when you get to this layer.
That’s pretty much it. From here, you can choose to make whatever you want from this white juicy material.
We recommend that you find a suitable container for your aloe gel before you start cutting the leaf. You can choose to throw it in a smoothie, make them into ice cubes for drinks, and a million other things.
We have all the resources you need to take that aloe gel and make it into whatever you need! Check out our other pages to see what you can do with it.