Tag: Salad

Salad Burnet(Sanguisorba minor)

Post author By Mukul
Post date August 24, 2010
No Comments on Salad Burnet(Sanguisorba minor)

Botanical Name :Sanguisorba minor
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Sanguisorba
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Species: S. minor

Syn. Poterium Sanguisorba
Common Names : Salad Burnet , Lesser Burnet, Garden burnet, Small burnet, burnet
Parts Used: Leaves

Habitat :Small burnet is native to Europe, western Asia and Siberia, and northern Africa . It is nonnative in North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Most North American small burnet populations originated in Europe . A few small burnet accessions came from the Middle East . Small burnet was deliberately introduced as a pasture and rehabilitation forb. It is very rarely invasive , typically occurring in small populations in only a few counties of the states in which it grows. In western North America, small burnet occurs sporadically from British Columbia east to Montana and south to California, New Mexico, and Nebraska . It is also sporadically distributed to the east from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to Tennessee and North Carolina .

Description:
Small burnet is a perennial herb. Stems are erect, ranging from 0.8 inch (2 cm) in height on droughty sites to 28 inches (70 cm) on moist sites . There are 12 to 17 pinnately compound basal leaves that are 2 to 8 inches (4-20 cm) long, egg-shaped, and sharply toothed. Cauline leaves become few and much reduced up the stem. The inflorescence is a terminal spike with dense, mostly imperfect, sessile flowers. Lower flowers are often staminate, with upper flowers pistillate or perfect. Flowers have 4 broad, petal-like sepals; true petals are lacking. The fruits are achenes, paired in a persistent, usually winged, 3- to 5-mm-long hypanthium. Hypanthia are sometimes wingless . The seeds are small, with about 50,000 seeds/lb. The stem base ends in a usually branched caudex, with a long, stout taproot beneath . Roots of plants in southern England were estimated at more than 16 inches (40 cm) in length, while small burnet roots in New Zealand were traced to 3-foot (1 m) depths . Small burnet sometimes has short rhizomes .

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Small burnet is drought tolerant. Drought resistance is partially attributable to its long, stout taproots, which have high water-storing capacity. Small burnet can also adjust its water-use efficiency as environmental conditions change

Culinary Uses:
It is used as an ingredient in both salads and dressings, having a flavor described as “light cucumber” and is considered interchangeable with mint leaves in some recipes, depending on the intended effect. Typically, the youngest leaves are used, as they tend to become bitter as they age.

Salad burnet is an interesting pot herb to add to salads, the young and tender leaves have a cucumber like taste. Combine burnet with basil and oregano in a herbal vinaigrette for salad dressing.

Constituents:
Figures in grams (g) or miligrams (mg) per 100g of food.
Leaves (Dry weight)

*0 Calories per 100g
*Water : 0%
*Protein: 11.1g; Fat: 2g; Carbohydrate: 80.4g; Fibre: 18g; Ash: 6.5g;
*Minerals – Calcium: 0mg; Phosphorus: 0mg; Iron: 0mg; Magnesium: 0mg; Sodium: 0mg; Potassium: 0mg; Zinc: 0mg;
*Vitamins – A: 0mg; Thiamine (B1): 0mg; Riboflavin (B2): 0mg; Niacin: 0mg; B6: 0mg; C: 0mg

Medicinal Uses:
Common Uses: Abrasions/Cuts *
Properties: Astringent* Cardic tonic Cordial* Styptic* Diaphoretic*

Both the root and the leaves are astringent, diaphoretic and styptic, though the root is most active. The plant is an effective wound herb, quickly staunching any bleeding. An infusion is used in the treatment of gout and rheumatism. The leaves can be used fresh, or are harvested in July and dried (the plant should be prevented from flowering). The root is harvested in the autumn and dried. An infusion of the leaves is used as a soothing treatment for sunburn or skin troubles such as eczema.

Salad burnet has the same medicinal qualities as medicinal burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis). It was used as a tea to relieve diarrhea in the past.

Salad burnet , while not considered on of the major additions to the herbal pharmacopoeia, is still a decorative and endearing herb.The plant name, Sanguisorba, derived from the Latin, gives clue to its ability to staunch blood from wounds, and is closely related to the alchemilla genus which are used in the same manner. The plant is healing, tonic, styptic and cooling, having much the same medicinal qualities as the less tasty medicinal burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis). Like borage, burnet wasbest known for its ability to “lighten the heart” and was most often served in wine.

Other Uses: Plants have extensive root systems and are used for erosion control, they are also used to reclaim landfills and mined-out terrain

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail114.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanguisorba_minor
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/sanmin/all.html

http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Sanguisorba+minor

Tags British Columbia, Garden, Middle East, New Mexico, New Zealand, North Carolina, Salad, Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba, Sanguisorba minor, South America, United States

Healthy Tips

Make Your Diet Your Priority

Post author By Mukul
Post date February 18, 2010
No Comments on Make Your Diet Your Priority

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Everyday, without our knowledge, a faint little feeling in the stomach prompts us to involuntarily look at the clock. Then the revelation hits us – it is evening and we have not had the time to eat our lunch.

In today’s times, where a sedentary lifestyle is the rule, it’s observed that the health of people is deteriorating day by day. They have started taking themselves and their body for granted. They don’t even remember when they last had a proper meal. Eating healthy just requires a little planning. Here are some shortcus to achieve a healthy body:

Breakfast is a ‘must’ :-
Start your morning with some breakfast, be it a piece of fruit or a whole wheat bread. Put oatmeal into a thermos of hot water, and you could even let it sit overnight. In the morning, you shall have hot cooked oatmeal ready to eat. Similarly, a hard boiled egg can be eaten. This will prevent your body from going into starvation mode. Eating breakfast everyday will also help increase your metabolic rate.

Five meals a day :-
Have at least five meals a day in which three can be the main meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner, while other two meals can consist of foods which are handy and nutritious at the same time. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs, provides consistent energy, and maintains metabolism efficiency. Grab healthy foods such as fruits that are high in fibre like apple, watermelon, muskmelon, orange, sweet lime, papaya and peaches.

Plan your dinner :-
Some people’s work demands frequenting restaurants for dinner. Always watch out for hidden fats. Creamy soups, white breads, flaky pastries and mayonnaise-based salad dressings add unnecessary fats to the food. Try consuming broths instead of creamy soups. Instead of mayonnaise dressing, use variety of condiments and flavouring agents such as lemon, vinegar, herbs, onion and garlic to improve the palatability of your salad. Remember, a gram of fat contains more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrate. Ask for grilled, baked, boiled or broiled food rather than fried foods.

Good quality food :
Always remember that the quality of food you eat determines your efficiency at work. Avoid refined foods like white rice and those used to make white bread and sugary breakfast cereals as most of their vitamins and minerals are stripped away. They turn into blood sugar (glucose) so fast just like sugar; they can cause a spike in our insulin level. Alternate refined flour with wholegrain flour. Substitute white sugar with honey and jaggery. Remember, all this will help us to remain healthy .

Source: The Times Of India

Food for Life: Nutrition and the Cancer Patient (friendseat.com)
Announcing our Foodie Finalists! Vote on Your Favorite Recipe! (oneriot.com)
How To Have Healthy Diet While Traveling (yearn2blog.com)
Healthy Breakfast Ideas (lisacooking.com)
Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan (fitnesstipsforlife.com)
Really?: The Claim: Vinegar Can Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels. (nytimes.com)
The Aroma Of Homemade Bread (mamasbagoftricks.blogspot.com)

Tags Blood sugar, Boiled egg, Carbohydrate, Flour, Salad, Sugar, White bread, Whole grain

Healthy Tips

Eat Fat With Tomatoes to Absorb All the Nutrients

Post author By Mukul
Post date August 25, 2009
No Comments on Eat Fat With Tomatoes to Absorb All the Nutrients

Tomatoes are a good source of the antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene. But if you eat a tomato without adding a little fat, your body is unlikely to absorb all these nutrients.
tomato with corn
Scientists recruited graduate students to eat bowls of salad greens with tomatoes and various types of salad dressings. The researchers put IV lines into the participants’ veins and drew blood samples before and after they’d eaten the salads in order to get precise measurements of the absorption of nutrients.

When researchers went back and analyzed the blood samples, they realized that people who had eaten fat-free or low-fat dressings didn’t absorb the beneficial carotenoids from the salad. Only when they had eaten the oil-based dressing did they get the nutrients.

Sources: NPR July 27, 2009

Tags Cooking, Diet food, Food, Home, Leaf vegetable, Lycopene, Salad, Tomato

Herbs & Plants

Eruca Sativa

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Botanical Name:Eruca Sativa
Family:Brassicaceae

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Brassicales
Genus: Eruca
Species: E. sativa
syn. : E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell., Brassica eruca L

Common Names:Rocket or Arugula, Roquette
Vernacular Names : Garden Rocket, Rocket (British English), Eruca, Rocketsalad, jarj?r (Arabic), Arugula (American English), Rucola (Italian), Rukola (Serbian, Slovenian, Polish), Rugola (Italian), Rauke (German), Roquette (French), Rokka (Greek), Roka (Turkish), Ruca (Catalan), Beharki (Basque), Voinicic (Romanian) Rúcula, Oruga and Arúgula (Spanish), Rúcula (Portuguese), Ruchetta (Italian) and Rughetta (Italian). The term arugula (variations of Italian dialects) is used by the Italian diaspora in Australia and North America and from there picked up as a loan word to a varying degree in American and Australian English, particularly in culinary usage. The names ultimately all derive from the Latin word eruca, a name for an unspecified plant in the family Brassicaceae, probably a type of cabbage.

Habitat : Arugula is native to western Asia and the Mediterranean region. It is standard table fare in Italy, the South of France, Greece and Little Italy in New York City. In recent years Californians and other Americans have discovered this tangy salad green and it can now be found in upscale supermarkets throughout most of the United States. Arugula has naturalized in waste places, road shoulders and fallow fields in northern and western Europe, well beyond its original range.

DESCRIPTION:
Arugula is an annual salad green that has leaves similar in taste and appearance to its relative, the radish (Raphanus sativus). The leaves are 3-7 in (7.6-18 cm) long and deeply lobed, like those of dandelions. Arugula is best used as a salad green when it’s young, just 1 ft (0.3 m) or so tall. It will eventually produce stems 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m) in height, topped with white cross shaped flowers that are very similar to those of radish. Several cultivars are offered in the specialty seed catalogs.
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CULTIVATION:
Light: Full sun. If grown in summer, provide shade from midday sun.
Moisture: Arugula appreciates regular watering.
Hardiness: Arugula can be grown in all zones. It is an annual that can tolerate temperatures down to 25ºF (-3.9 C). It goes quickly to seed in hot weather.

It is now cultivated in various places, especially in Veneto, Italy, but is available throughout the world. It is also locally naturalised away from its native range in temperate regions around the world, including northern Europe and North America. In India, the mature seeds are known as Gargeer.

PROPAGATION : From seed. Plant seeds thickly in rows, bands or patches in early spring and again in autumn. Summer plantings go quickly to flower and seed, and the leaves are tougher and more bitter than those from plants grown in cool weather. Arugula will self seed in the garden if allowed.

USES:
Arugula is one of the new darlings among “in” salad lovers in America, but it has been a popular salad green and “seasoning leaf” in southern Europe for centuries. It’s stronger tasting than most leafy greens, but not quite strong enough to be called an herb. The flavor of arugula has been likened to mustard greens (Brassica juncea), radish (Raphanus sativus) and cress. It adds a pleasant peppery “bite” to fresh green salads. Larger, more mature leaves, and those grown in the hot summer, are stronger tasting, almost bitter, and used in salads with discretion. The small younger leaves may be used freely. Toss arugula with radicchio and a mild lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Arugula is a standard component in mesclun, a toss of young leaves of various lettuces, chicories (Cichorum intybus), endives (Cichorium endivia) and mild herbs. It adds a nice tangy bite to potato salads. Arugula can be cooked like spinach (Spinacea oleracea) or wilted in hot olive oil and garlic and served with pasta or potatoes. Use the older, more tangy leaves in soups and sauces. Add arugula to leek and potato soup near the end of the simmering. Use arugula in vegetable stir fry. The seeds of arugula are sometimes used as a flavoring substitute for mustard, and they are pressed to yield an edible oil known as jamba oil. The seeds are also sprouted for use in salads.

It is used as a leaf vegetable, which looks like a longer leaved and open lettuce. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium[9]. It is frequently cultivated, although domestication cannot be considered complete. It has been grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and is considered an aphrodisiac. Before the 1990s it was usually collected in the wild and was not cultivated on a large scale or researched scientifically. In addition to the leaves, the flowers (often used in salads as an edible garnish), young seed pods and mature seeds are all edible.

On the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples, a digestive alcohol called rucolino is made from the plant, a drink often enjoyed in small quantities following a meal. The liquor is a local specialty enjoyed in the same way as a limoncello or grappa and has a sweet peppery taste that washes down easily.

Grow arugula in the fall and early spring garden. Usable leaves should be ready in 4-6 weeks. The best leaves are from plants grown fast in cool weather. Use nitrogen fertilizer to insure rapid growth. Pick off leaves as needed, leaving the plant to grow more.

Features:–
According to ancient traditions, eating arugula will bring you good luck. The oil extracted from the seeds was considered to be an aphrodisiac. Since it also tastes good, it seems like everyone might want to grow this talented green.

MEDICINAL USES:
Herbal medicine : Medicinal notes It is sharp, spicy and pungent. Eruca sativa is most often used cooked or fresh.

RECENT RESEARCH study conducted by Saudi Arabian researchers has confirmed that the herb Rocket “Eruca sativa L.” (EER), a member of the Brassicacae family, has potential anti-ulcer medicinal properties.
Click to see:->Herb Medicine ‘Rocket’ has Gastric Anti-ulcer Properties :

Traditional uses:
Parts used Traditional uses Contemporary uses Fragrance Fragrance parts Fragrance intensity Fragrance category Dye parts Dye color .

Other Uses: The seed yields a semi-drying oil which is a substitute for rapeseed oil[46]. It can also be used for lighting, burning with very little soot.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruca_sativa
http://www.floridata.com/ref/E/eruc_sat.cfm

Tags Ancient Rome, Australian English, Brassica juncea, Brassicaceae, Eruca, Eruca sativa, Gulf of Naples, Herbalism, India, Leaf vegetable, Lettuce, Radish, Salad, Saudi Arabia, United States

Healthy Tips

The Best & Healthy Way to Eat Eggs

Post author By Mukul
Post date March 27, 2009
No Comments on The Best & Healthy Way to Eat Eggs

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Raw, hands down…. that many of you, especially women, will find this particularly difficult to accept. This is primarily because of the slimy texture but if you whip them up in a shake you won’t even know they are there.

Raw eggs are better because cooking them will damage the valuable nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin, bioflavanoids present in egg yolk that are incredibly important for your vision.

Heating the egg protein also changes its chemical shape, and the distortion can easily lead to allergies.

Further, when an egg is overcooked, such as when it is scrambled, the cholesterol in it becomes oxidized, or rancid, and oxidized cholesterol can increase your levels of inflammation and lead to numerous health problems.

So if you want to get the maximum health benefits that eggs have to offer, choose organic varieties and eat them raw. The next best would be soft-boiled and then sunny-side up, with the yolk still very runny.

If you are worried about getting salmonella from eating raw eggs, as many people initially are, please read my past article on the topic — Raw Eggs for Your Health — to address your concerns. The risk is actually very, very small.

Remember the MYTH :Brown eggs are better than white eggs. Fact:NOT TRUE : The nutritional content of egg has got nothing to do with the outer shell colour.