Originally Published on: Nov 21, 2016 – 14:17 by A-G @ soultranslations.com
What Is It?
- Native to the Mediterranean Southern Europe
- Herb (world’s most popular)
- Relative to celery
- Delicious and vibrant taste
- Was used in medicine prior to being consumed as food
- Most popular types
- curly parsley
- Italian flat leaf parsley-more fragrant and less bitter taste
- turnip-rooted (or Hamburg)-cultivated for its roots
Healing Properties/Health Benefits
- Many, wonderful, but often ignored
- inhibit tumor formation, esp. in the lungs- animal studies
- can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens
- antioxidants that combine with oxygen radicals and help prevent oxygen-based damage to cells
- helps reduce risk of atherosclerosis, colon cancer, diabetes, and asthma
- useful in conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
- can be helpful for preventing ear infections or colds
- helps to decrease the risk of risk of heart attack and stroke
Nutrition
- Highly nutritious
- Contains (fresh, chopped): vitamins K, C and A, folate, iron, copper, potassium, magnesium, fiber, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc, vitamins B3 and B1.
- Also contains some unusual components: 1) volatile oil components (myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and alpha-thujene) and 2) flavanoids (apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and luteolin)
Availability and How To Grow
Availability
- Year round
- Use fresh, deep green, and crisp rather than dried when possible
- Choose organic when possible
- Flat leaf parsley-best preserved dried
- Curly parsley-best preserved by freezing
How to Grow
- Biennial plant
- Will return year after year once established
References
- The World’s Healthiest Foods: Parsley
