how to harvest fresh aloe vera gel

Aloe vera has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties as well as lowering high cholesterol, accelerating wound healing, boosting oxygenation of the blood and many other benefits. Most of the benefits are derived from drinking the aloe vera gel as part of a blended smoothie recipe. Notice the thick gel in this aloe vera leaf. (This was taken from a plant in my front yard.) It is this gel that we're after. The method here is to use a knife to remove the thick skin and resin of the aloe vera leaf, leaving only the gel.

It is the gel that has the health benefits we're interested in. The dark red resin (latex) actually causes diarrhea, but the gel is soothing to the entire digestive tract.

Here, I've cut away a section of the leaf to show you the transparency of the aloe vera gel. Aloe vera gel is 96% water. The water is locked in a matrix of complex polysaccharides made of over 200 phytonutrients. It is these polysaccharides and glyconutrients that we're interested in. This is where the healing benefits come from.
Here's a closeup of the aloe vera leaf. You can clearly see the texture of the aloe vera gel vs. the skin. What's impossible to see here, however, are the numerous healing elements present in aloe vera.
In this closeup, you can see not only the gel and skin, but also the entry points of the resin pathways (the dark red spots). These represent the circulatory system of the aloe plant. The gel represents the water storage system. All aloe vera plants are antibacterial and self-healing. If you cut one, it will seal itself in a matter of hours and kill all bacteria that try to invade the leaf. These antibacterial properties are also passed along to humans who consume the aloe vera gel. Aloe vera is antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.

To fillet the aloe vera leaf, start with a thick leaf on a cutting board. Use a serrated knife with a bit of flexibility in the blade. Harvesting aloe vera will also coat your cutting board with a layer of antibacterial gel, by the way.
First, slice off the top skin layer of the leaf. Start from the thick end of the aloe vera leaf and work your way to the thin end. Hold your knife parallel to the cutting board, and try not to cut off too much of the aloe vera gel.

This cut will expose the top part of the aloe vera gel
Next, cut away the two side pieces of the aloe vera leaf. This is done by holding the knife at approximately a 45-degree angle to the cutting board, and using a sawing cutting action to move along the length of the leaf, removing one side of the leaf skin at a time.

When you're done removing both sides, you'll be left with the aloe vera gel attached to the bottom skin.

Now hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and gently slice away the gel from the bottom layer of skin. Since large aloe vera leaves are slightly concave, you may have to press down on the top of the gel to flatten it against the cutting board.

Be sure to remove all the skin, because you don't want to blend up the tough skin in your smoothie.

Now you can pick up the gel, which resembles a large piece of gelatin. This is what you want to eat. You can actually eat a piece of it fresh. The taste is slightly bitter. Once blended into a smoothie, it has virtually no taste at all.

This gel, by the way, can be packed into flesh wounds to prevent infection and accelerate healing. You can actually drop a chunk of aloe very gel directly into a wound before heading to the emergency room. It's also wonderful for cuts, scrapes, burns and bruises.

source: http://www.naturalnews.com/PhotoTour_Aloe_Vera_1.html