Leahs Cafe

It came so sudden. I was planning to go up to KL on Friday and was driving out to purchase bus ticket on Thursday at about 4.00p.m. Half an hour later, on the way driving home, I felt a little warm. By the time I reached home, I have a fever and chronic pain at multiple joints. Thought I was coming down with a flu. I don’t like to take anti-biotic for flu, so I didn’t see a doctor.

Took a lot of fluids that night, but the fever would not come down. Could not sleep well all night and getting up to go bathroom was a struggle because of the chronic multiple joints pain. It didn’t get better but worse the next morning, the temperature went up to 40 Celsius and the joints were so pain, could hardly move or walk. Was also feeling cold, though with a winter jacket on in this summary weather.

Couldn’t even drive to see a doctor, had to call dad at work, he was busy and could only leave in the afternoon. My mom cooked some porridge for lunch, though didn’t have any appetite, forced half a bowl down the throat. Dad came home for lunch and then we went to see a doctor.

The doctor said I have the symptoms of Chikungunya. Due to my paracetamol allergy, she was cautious when giving out medications. She gave me the Buprol (Ibuprofen) for bring down the temperature and inflammations, Ponstan and another type of pain killer to relieve the joints pain, some antibiotics and oral rehydration salts. She advised me to take a lot of fluids, fruits and drink some 100 plus to prevent dehydration.

An hour after taking the medication, was perspired profusely, the temperature went down, the joints pain disappeared and the appetite returned! In the evening, before I took the next dose of medication, could feel the joints pain coming back.

While the medications are keeping the fever down and the inflammation in control, but the new symptoms – rashes are coming out. The itchiness is bearable. Following the doctor’s advice to take a lot fruits and fluids to prevent dehydration, it will take a few weeks to completely recover from this disease. Currently no medicine is available for treatment of Chikungunya yet. The doctors could only give medications to relieve the symptoms. I have lost three kilograms due to the illness, no need alli anymore. :-)

My post on our attempt to make fruit enzymes at home last week received a lot hits from many people who were searching for recipes on how to make fruit enzymes at home. So, thought I will share what we did for the apple enzyme and dragon fruit enzyme we made.

For the apple enzyme, we have:
-20 green apples
-6 lemons
-500 g organic sugar

The steps:

(1) Wash the fruits and let them air dry.

(2) Wash the jars, knife, peeler, chopping board and air dry them.

**It’s important to have everything dry without water, to prevent contamination, growing mold or bad bacteria.

(3) When everything is dry, you can start peeling the apples and lemons and cut them into slices.

(4) Lay one layer of the apple slices in the jar, one layer of sugar, one layer of lemon slices, one layer of sugar, and continue this process until the jar is full.

(5) Close the jar and put it at a corner without direct sunlight.

(6) You should see bubbles forming on the second days.

(7) On the third day, open the jar to let the bubbles out.

(8) Close back the jar and let the fermentation goes on for another 2-3 weeks.

(9) Sieve the liquid out and you can use the remnants to make jam or drink.

For the dragon fruit enzyme, we have:
-2 dragon fruits
-100 g organic sugar

(1) De-skin the dragon fruits and cut into slices.

(2) Layer the dragon fruits and sugar alternatively until the jar is full.

(3) Follow steps (5)-(9) as in apple enzymes.

Happy making fruit enzymes at home !

My friend PL was here for a visit over the weekend. She shared about the health benefit of fruit enzyme and how it’s helping her with stress related ailments that both of us share in common. She brought some fruit enzyme that she made to share with my family. She mixed with some water and made a cup of drink for me. It taste quite nice and it caused so much gases that night, it’s embarrassing!

Many of us probably have heard and read about this fruit enzyme as a few organic stores have been promoting it quite a bit lately. I remember reading about a Thai alternative medicine practitioner named Dr. Rosukon Poompanwong who teaches people to make enzyme from kitchen waste.

Apparently, they are a few Malaysians who went to visit the health farm runs by Dr. Rosukon in Thailand. They came back promoting the making of fruits enzyme and garbage enzyme widely in Klang Valley. PL went to one of those classes to learn how to make fruit enzymes. Knowing PL is always eager to share what she learns with me. I asked her to do a demo on how to make fruit enzyme at home.

And this is the product we have, two jars of apples enzyme and one jar of dragon fruits enzyme from twenty green apples, two dragon fruits, six lemons and about 500 g of organic sugar.

(It started as a full jar but I forgot to take a picture. This is how it looked like after two days. The osmosis was drawing the juices out and fermentation has begun. Can see bubbles forming and smell like citrus wine.)

The skins and seeds of the fruits do not go to waste, they go in a jar to make garbage enzyme that can be used as fertilizer, disinfectant and many more. (You can also make this from kitchen waste.)

You must be thinking, yuck, the fermentation of this garbage must be really smelly! Believe it or not, this bottle of garbage actually smell pretty good, a bit similar to the citrus based deodorant you have in the car!