Ever wonder why we use culinary herbs? Can it be possible that the ancients, Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, and Avicenna, etc. were right in their books of medicines on the healing properties of herbs? Dioscorides medical herbal, De Materia Medica, was used for over 1,500 years as thee textbook on medicine! Many of the herbal medicine used then are still used today.
Our ancestors passed on, by word of mouth, their herbal medicine such as parsley as a diuretic, fennel to promote milk flow and an early slimming aid, rosemary for an all around stimulant, and basil for antibacterial and digestive tonic, just to name a few. Each generation has changed them or added to them a little or a lot until we come to today where we still use this herbal medicine in our food. What did they know that we don’t?
The culinary herbs we use are more than just to make our food taste better. Every time we use them we ingest a little of their healing properties. How many people know why parsley is used as a garnish? How many people eat the parsley that is used for a garnish? Not many but it’s put in foods that we consume everyday.
Just so you know, the leaves, root, and seeds of parsley were used as a poultice for bruises, sprains and insect bites. It was rubbed on the body to repel mosquitoes. The juice was used to treat toothache and as a hair rinse or a facial steam for dry skin. It can be made into a skin lotion and used as eyewash for tired eyes. Parsley’s properties include antioxidants, antiseptic, antispasmodic, aperients, carminative, diuretic, nutritive, expectorant, laxative and aphrodisiac. And all we do with it these days is use it as a garnish!
Our kitchens are loaded with herbs with healing properties that will keep us healthy whether we know it or not. Yes, parsley does make salads, egg dishes, soup, stews, fish, dips, potatoes, tomatoes taste good but it’s also a mild aphrodisiac, as well as a cancer preventative. It helps hypertension due to its diuretic properties. The high chlorophyll content smoothes the progress use of oxygen. The volatile oil increases circulation to the digestive tract. In Russia, a preparation containing mostly Parsley juice is given during labor to stimulate uterine contractions.
Parsley’s properties contain anthelmintic, antioxidant, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, aperient, aphrodisiac, carminative, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, laxative, lithotriptic, nutritive, sedative, tooth tonic.
That’s a lot of healing power in one little tiny plant. No wonder parsley is used in a lot of our foods. It not only tastes good but it good for us. So the next time you eat out remember that parsley garnish has mild aphrodisiac properties and eat it–don’t waste it!
One of the advantages of herbal medicine for gardeners is many herbs are easy to grow. In fact, a number of herbal medicinal plants commonly are grown as ornamentals. Even if you don’t choose to grow herbs yourself, the basic ingredients for many herbal remedies can be purchased in health food stores or online and prepared in your own kitchen.
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