Other names: Common Parsley, Garden Parsley, Hamburg Parsley
Description:
Parsley is native to the central Mediterranean region (southern Italy, Algeria, and Tunisia)and widely used elsewhere as an herb, a spice, and a vegetable. It has numerous leaflets and a rosette of tripinnate leaves about 10 to 25 cm long and grows as a biennial. The leaves are often used as a garnish. Many dishes are served with fresh green chopped parsley sprinkled on top. It is also used as a condiment, food and flavoring. Root parsley is eaten as a snack or is added in soups, stews and casseroles.
The oil of the parsley seed is used as a fragrance in soaps, cosmetics and perfumes.
Parts used: leaf, seed, and root
Health Benefits:
Parsley is packed with vitamins and minerals namely vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, choline, folates, calcium, iron,
magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, and copper. Parsley's high concentration of boron and fluoride can also help prevent bone thinning and osteoporosis.
Medicinal properties and uses:
* Antibacterial
* AntiCancer
* Antirheumatic
* Carminative
* Diuretic
* Emmenagogue
* Vasodilator
Parsley can be used fresh, juice or in teas
Parsley Juice
Put fresh apples and/or carrots in blender, osterizer or juicer and add a bunch of parsley. You may also juice parsley alone but this takes a whole lot of parsley to get just a small amount of juice.
Parsley Teas
Place fresh parsley leaves in a mug and pour boiling water. Leave the water and parsley to steep for 5 minutes.
Parsley have been used mainly to remove kidney stone, bladder infection, and as jaundice medications. It also prevents gas and bloating, helps stimulate the appetite, improves digestion, increases urine production, reduces spasms, and increase menstrual flow. Both parsley leaf and root can be used in teas to help gout, osteoarthritis, and rheumatism.
Parsley can also reduce fatigue and swelling of eyes by dipping a cloth in an unsweetened tea and placing it over closed eyes for 10 minutes. Leaves and roots are pounded into paste and mixed with a small amount of water or tea and applied on head to repel head lice. For external use, the paste can also be applied to ease bug bites and stings. It is also known to to help speed up the disappearance of black-and-blue marks/bruises.
Parsley contains a large amount of chlorophyll which acts as a breath freshener. Simply chew fresh sprig of parsley after meals.
Precaution:
Fool's parsley and parsley piert is different from parsley so be careful not to confuse parsley with fool's parsley and parsley piert.
Concentrated parsley extracts should be avoided by those with kidney problems and women who are pregnant because it can stimulate the uterus.
