Jute leaves are used in Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cuisine as a food source and thickener in soups, stews, and sauces. Jute plants have many uses, including making burlap, rope, and paper. Jute leaves are nutritious and have a distinct flavor, but can become sticky when cooked. They can be cooked whole or chopped and should be cooked for the appropriate amount of time.
Jute leaves are the leaves of certain jute plants, used as a food source in Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Besides adding a distinct flavor to food, these leaves also have nutritional value and act as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces. They are also called saluyot or ewedu depending on the region of the world where it is cooked. It is possible to grow jute for its fresh leaves in some parts of the world, and some specialty stores also stock it in fresh, frozen, or dried form, depending on their location and size.
Jute is a plant with many uses. All plants of the genus Corchorus are considered jute, although two have particular economic and culinary value, C. olitorius and C. capsularis. The leaves of these plants are simple and may have slightly serrated edges. When harvested young, jute leaves are flavorful and tender; older leaves tend to be more woody and stringy, making them less ideal for consumption.
Burlap stalks are used to make rope, paper, and a variety of other products. Jute has been used as an all-purpose plant in Asia for several centuries, and Europeans were introduced to jute rope and textiles when they started exploring India. Jute leaves, however, didn’t seem to catch on with European explorers. This seems to have been the case with a large number of Asian foods, as many ordinary Asian foods and dishes still seem quite exotic to the Western palate.
People who cook with jute leaves use them in soups, stews, curries, vegetable dishes, and sometimes herbal tea or tea. Jute tends to get quite sticky and slimy, like okra, another common vegetable thickener. It is also said to have its own distinct flavour, which some people find quite pleasant. Jute leaves are also a good source of nutrition, especially beta carotene.
Like spinach and other leafy greens, jute leaves can be cooked whole as the main component of a dish, or they can be liberally chopped so they blend better with other ingredients. Some cooks like to salt the leaves and rest them before cooking, to extract some of the slime that can make them unsettling on the palate. The longer they cook, the stickier and thicker they become, so it’s important to pay attention to cooking times in recipes that call for jute leaves.
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