The Yoruba forest green the elders cooked for the eyes and the blood. Worowo is a succulent climbing leaf, slipped into soups for its medicine as much as its flavor — a green that healers reached for first.
Worowo is one of dozens of West African indigenous greens that have no Southern-American counterpart because they were left in the forest the captives were taken from. Collard greens carry the memory of greens; worowo is one of the specific greens that memory points back to.
Worowo is a nutrient-dense forest green carrying iron and folate for the blood, beta-carotene and vitamin C for the immune system and the eyes, and a flavonoid load behind its traditional uses. Yoruba ethnomedicine cooked or juiced the leaves to treat anemia, support failing eyesight, soothe heart complaints, and dress wounds — a green that crossed the line between vegetable and medicine. Its potassium supports blood-pressure control and its antioxidants counter the oxidative weathering load.
Wash the succulent leaves and add them late to soups and stews — they cook in minutes and turn bitter and slimy if overcooked. Classic in efo-style vegetable stews with peppers, locust bean, and crayfish, or wilted with palm oil. Some prepare a light infusion of the leaves as a tonic. Add a vitamin-C source to lift iron uptake.
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