Parsley is more than just a garnish. The ancient Romans used parsley to mask the odor of alcohol on the breath and aid in digestion. If a person seems that they were at death’s door, they said they needed parsley – the grass was sprinkled on corpses as a deodorizer. In ancient Greece, Parsley was used in funeral wreaths and given to athletes. People believed that the demigod Hercules had used parsley in their wreaths; the herb was fed to horses in the hopes of increasing resistance. Before the middle Ages parsley was used to treat a wide variety of ailments, including plague, asthma, and jaundice.

These days, the parsley is best known as a class factory multivitamin. If you choose the flat leaf (Italian) parsley, curly leaf parsley, or Hamburg (parsnip-rooted) parsley, grass is chock vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, several B vitamins and iron. In fact, parsley has more vitamin C per ounce than an orange! Add the parsley to your kitchen to increase vitamin and mineral content in their diet.

The root of parsley – dried and made into tea – is occasionally used in modern medicine to alleviate bladder problems and constipation. The parsley camphor can repel insects (such as head lice). In very large quantities, parsley camphor can lower blood pressure and pulse prices, leading to muscle weakness and even paralysis. Use care with parsley oil, when large quantities can irritate the kidneys.

Parsley is also used in the cosmetics industry, both leaves and stems calm and clean in the bath water. The oil of parsley is used in makeup, shampoo, perfumes, soaps, and lotions.

If you have a crop of parsley in your hands, you can dry it, crush it, and store in an airtight container. The curly leaf parsley actually stores better when frozen, the permission level has a stronger flavor that can withstand dry.