Forest green leafy vegetables (GLVs) collected and consumed by tribals of Andhra Pradesh, south India were processed following the methods used by the tribals and analyzed for total carotenoids (TC) and beta-carotene (BC) contents using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Boiling GLVs in a large amount of water (1:2) with or without draining off the water is the common practice followed by the tribals prior to product preparation. Effect of boiling on percent retention of BC in 46 GLVs showed a wide variation of 6 to 97 percent. Among the traditional products of the tribals with GLVs, curry prepared with cooking water retained was found to have the maximum retention of BC followed by that shallow fried or ground to make chutney. GLVs cooked with tamarind extract showed the least retention (0.42-3.52%) of BC. However, some of the forest GLVs were found to be more stable to heat in that they retained maximum (75 to 98%) BC after heat processing and also had high vitamin A activity. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.