Dried parsley

Parsley is a plant of the family Umbelliferae. Parsley garden - biennial or perennial umbelliferous plant, height from 70 cm to 1.5 m, the Leaves are petiolate, the stem is cylindrical, with thin grooves. Lower leaves doubly - and troickopecherskoe, and the top only Troisfontaine. Flowers regular, greenish-yellow, collected in umbrellas. Blooms in June-July. The fruit is egg-shaped Documenta, the root is white, spindle-shaped. It is of two types: root and leaf. At the root of parsley in the first year formed a powerful fleshy root, which concentrates the flavor, well developed leaf rosette; leaf - more powerful leaf rosette and thin branched root. Leaf parsley-more spicy, especially the wild variety found in the Caucasus. Known forms with smooth and curly leaves. Regardless of the type and varieties of parsley are used all the organs - leaves, roots, fruits.

It is easy to see that the root of the word "parsley" - "Peter", which in Greek means "stone". The fact that the wild ancestor of garden parsley grows on poor rocky soil of southern Greece. That's where the Latin name of a plant is "Petroselinum" - "the growing stone". And in Russia parsley has long been called "mestrec" or "Sveriges". In folk medicine it for centuries occupied a place of honour: her leaves doctored wounds, juice of parsley mixed with lemon juice, drove freckles.Parsley can be found on almost any domestic garden. However, the birthplace of parsley after all the Mediterranean. The people of Ancient Greece, noticed that the parsley is growing on rocks, called her petroselinon, meaning "stone celery" (from реtroz - "stone", + selinon "celery"), which was later reflected in the Botanical family name Petersilie. This explains the name of the parsley in most European languages: Dutch peterselie, French рersil, German Рetersilie, Polish рietruszka and Russian - parsley. The oldest information about the parsley reached us from Ancient Egypt: according to legend, he rose from the blood spreading out from torn evil Seth eye of Horus - the son of the God Osiris. In memory of this event; antiquity organized religious activities and their participants wore wreaths of parsley.Four types of parsley grown in Western and southern Europe, and their homeland consider Macedonia. However, modern chefs use only seed, or vegetable, parsley R. sativum, or P. crispum, it has two varieties: root and leaf. The leaf varieties many fine roots and rich greens. At the root of varieties, forms a thickened, weakly branched, spindle-shaped root. All parts of the plant are used as a spice. Spicy properties due to the essential oil, which consists of apiol, miris-titin and the other One of the varieties leaf parsley - curly - looks very impressive and is therefore often used for decorating. Very spicy and sweet Italian or Neapolitan, parsley - the Italians call it legetoj and is cultivated mainly for thick succulent stems. Fragrant fruits (seeds) of parsley very rarely used by cooks, but sorry - their presence in vegetable stews or dishes of lentils can surprise.Seriously grow parsley in Europe began only in the ninth century, and since then it has become a favorite green decoration soups and vegetable dishes. French cooks often combine parsley with other fresh herbs, for example, with chervil or Melissa and use in the bouquet Garni and a classical mix "fin-ERB". In 1656 was released in France the work of Pierre de Lune "New cook construing about the true ability to cook all kinds of meat, game, poultry, fish, both marine and freshwater...", in his opening remarks to the reader, the author enumerates the necessary to cook the food, and one of them mentioned "package" (paquet) - "slice of bacon, chives, a bit of thyme, two cloves, chervil, parsley, all tied together by a thread; "for fast days can do it as well but don't put fat". In addition, France is a very popular condiment "parsed" (persillade) - a mixture of chopped parsley and garlic, it is usually added at the very end of cooking. Dishes, seasoned with a mixture of international cuisine is sometimes called the term a La рersillade, or реrsille; for example, "the sauce peril" is a variation of the classic French sauce bearnes with cream and blanshirovannuyu parsley. It is also interesting to know that:

These lines belong to the Greek poet Anakreont. In Ancient Greece, parsley woven into bouquets of roses and lilies, to remind you that the fun is not forever. The fact that parsley from time immemorial been regarded as a symbol of serious grief and sorrow and served to Express condolences to the family of the deceased. Cooked her meals were served only at the funeral. The ancient Greeks had a special expression: "This man needs onlyparsley". So were talking about a hopelessly sick person whose days are already numbered.

Grown from seeds almost all over the world. Seeds can be sown in early spring in rows with a row spacing of 30 cm, the Seedlings were subjected to thinning out to a distance of 50 mm In the growth process the parsley should tump and weed from weeds. The root is collected in autumn and spring in the second year, peeled, cut lengthwise and dried. Keep fresh in the cellar, refrigerator.

In the seeds of parsley contains fatty and essential oils, flavonoids, glucosides, tar and other substances, in sheets - carotene, vitamin C. Parsley is rich in vitamins and mineral elements, and therefore extremely useful for the General breakdown. Parsley contains up to 7% of essential oil, the main components of which apiol and glycosides of apigenin, a significant amount of ascorbic