Kulitis in my Smoothies

Organic kulitis in the backyard

 I did not plant this, they just grow in the garden and they grow abundantly when I started to take really good care of them. Kulitis provides a wonderful healthy ingredient to my green smoothie.

One day, I took a half day leave from the office and decided to eat my lunch at home. My cousin served fried tuna and ginataang mongo - yummy! I was famished but had to stop myself as I looked at the unfamiliar green leafy veggie in my ginataang monggo. I asked her what it was and she said, “that is kulitis.” Kulitis, what? Right, it’s the plant that I kept on pulling from my small garden thinking it was a grass. Yes kulitis for me was just a perennial, annoying grass that grows anywhere that has soil. Oh boy, was I wrong!

Greens: Kulitis, Sweet basil, Orange mint, Gynura procumbens

Fruits: A little portion of pineapple, mango, avocado and guyabano

Superfoods: Spirulina, Maca, Camu camu berry and Cacao nibs

I initially only used romaine lettuce in my green smoothie. But romaine lettuce is a bit pricey and sometimes unavailable, I had to substitute it with cheap but equally (or more) nutritious greens. Also, the experts are saying we should not use the same leafy veggie in our green smoothie for longer than a week – we need to substitute it with something else. Anyway, I alternate romaine lettuce with kangkong (swamp cabbage), pechay, bok choy, camote tops, saluyot and alugbati. When I learned that kulitis is edible, I took special interest in growing them and grow them, I did! I grow them because I want to stock up on green leafy veggies at home for my green smoothies. So now nothing beats having my own fresh (yes, super fresh!) greens in the backyard, I have them when I need them. Awesome!