Parsley : Heatlth Benefits

Parsley: The delicious and vibrant taste and wonderful healing properties of parsley are often ignored in its popular role as a table garnish. Highly nutritious, parsley can be found year round in your local supermarket.

Parsley is the world's most popular herb. It derives its name from the Greek word meaning "rock celery" (parsley is a relative to celery). It is a biennial plant that will return to the garden year after year once it is established.

Parsley is a strong flavoured herb that is used in very limited amounts. It is used as a garnish and decoration, in recipes and is seldom eaten straight.Parsley has folk lore about it. If you cut parsley; you will cut your luck. Food is protected from contamination if a sprig of parsley is placed on the plate.Health Benefits:
Parsley is one of the world’s seven most potent disease-fighting spices!! Many Therapeutic Health Benefits Include Its Use For:
Anemia, Antioxidant, Bactericidal (kills bacteria), Bad breath, Blood Purifier, Blood vessel rejuvenation, digestion, Dissolves cholesterol within the veinsHormonal support: in women, parsley improves estrogens, nourishes, and restores the blood of the uterus. Conditions like delayed menstruation, PMS, and the menopause (dry skin, irritability, depression, and hair loss) can often improve.Hormone balancing is achieved through the volatile fatty acids contained in parsley.Immune booster: The high vitamin C, beta-carotene, B12, chlorophyll, and essential fatty acid content render parsley an extraordinary immunity enhancing food. Parsley is an immune-enhancing multi-vitamin and mineral complex in green plant form and one of the most important herbs for providing vitamins to the body.
Fights cancer: Parsley contains volatile oils that have been found to inhibit tumor formation in animal studies, particularly those in the lungs. The oils are not only cancer-fighting; they're also known to neutralize carcinogens including those found in cigarette smoke and charcoal grill smoke. Parsley also contains folic acid, which has been found to help prevent colon and cervical cancers.
Good for the heart: The folic acid in parsley is a critical nutrient in cardiovascular health. Specifically, folic acid helps convert potentially dangerous homocysteine into harmless molecules, a process that protects blood vessels and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Culinary Uses:
Parsley's culinary uses are endless and should not be limited to providing an attractive garnish for savory dishes. Add the leaves to soups, stews, stuffing, sauces, vegetable dishes, eggs, savory pies, and casseroles, and use when preparing meat, fish, and shellfish.Include fresh parsley in salads-it's an essential ingredient of tabbouleh, a tasty staple of Lebanese Cuisine-and in savory mousses, dips, biscuits, and crackers.Parsley is a mainstay of fine French cooking. It's included in bouquet-garni, along with bay leaf and thyme, in aux fines herbes, a mixture of parsley, tarragon, chives, or chervil, and in persillade, a finely chopped mixture of parsley and shallots that is traditionally added to a dish just before it has finished cooking.Italian chefs prefer the stronger taste of the flat-leaved variety and use it extensively.The oil from parsley leaves and seeds is used commercially to flavor cured and canned meats, condiments, sauces, pickles, baked goods, and soups.