Rosemary is a fragrant, evergreen shrub with needle-like leaves and two-lipped, purplish-blue and white flowers. New growth is soft and flexible but older stems become woody and form trunks with time.
Rosemary
Anti microbial, antioxidant, anti arthritic, gum health, hair restoration, kidney health.
Rosemary leaves are used as a flavoring in foods, such as stuffing and roast lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey. Fresh or dried leaves are used in traditional Mediterranean cuisine. They have a bitter, astringent taste and a characteristic aroma which complements many cooked foods. Herbal tea can be made from the leaves. When roasted with meats or vegetables, the leaves impart a mustard-like aroma with an additional fragrance of charred wood that goes well with barbecued foods.
In amounts typically used to flavor foods, such as one teaspoon (1 gram), rosemary provides no nutritional value. Rosemary extract has been shown to improve the shelf life and heat stability of omega 3-rich oils which are prone to rancidity. Rosemary is also an effective antimicrobial herb.
The plant or its oil have been used in folk medicine in the belief it may have medicinal effects. Rosemary was considered sacred to ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. In Don Quixote (Part One, Chapter XVII), the fictional hero uses rosemary in his recipe for balm of fierabras.
The plant has been used as a symbol for remembrance during war commemorations and funerals in Europe and Australia. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Australia, sprigs of rosemary are worn on ANZAC Day and sometimes Remembrance Day to signify remembrance; the herb grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where many Australians died during World War I.
Rosemary benefits include antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. However, it is not clear whether these rosemary benefits occur in humans as studies are mostly done on animals. That said, rosemary traditionally has been used in alternative medicine to treat or improve certain medical conditions including hair loss, arthritis, kidney damage, mental fatigue, and fibromyalgia.
Popular uses of rosemary include the treatment of:
- Cough
- Hair loss
- Arthritis
- Diabetic kidney damage (nephropathy)
- Mental tiredness
- Fibromyalgia
- Gum disease
- Low blood pressure
- Eczema
- Gas
- Gout
- Headache
- High blood pressure
- Increasing menstrual flow
- Inducing abortion
- Indigestion
- Liver and gallbladder problems
As with all herbs, only consume in small quantities as an additive, Because of their volatile oil content, large quantities of rosemary leaves can cause serious side effects, including vomiting, spasms, coma and, in some cases, pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs).
Culinary herb, herbal, rosmarinic acid, camphor, caffeic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, carnosic acid, and carnosol.