Foodology

Culinary Curiosities

 

Phytochemicals are the chemicals within plants.  Researchers are learning that there are connections between the color of a plant, and it’s healing or nutritional properties.  Each color is related to a different health benefit, and therefore a variety is not only visually pleasing, but better for you!

 

Some Intriguing color connections…

 

Cherries and dark grapes or their juice, which both clean and balance the blood, are blood-colored.

Dandelion and turmeric are both yellow-gold, and are good for increasing bile (also a yellow-green color) which is necessary for healthy digestion.

Cinnamon, with its brownish red color, is a natural fungicide for molds on the soil, also brown in color.  Who’d have thought!?

 

 

Flowering Foods?

 

 

That’s right- aside from their beauty and fragrance; many are also nutritious and even medicinal!

A few common edibles are daisies, pansies, nasturtiums, citrus blossoms, honeysuckle, sunflowers, & roses (rose hips).  And here’s a surprise--  Did you know that those little sliced ‘vegetables’ called okra are actually sliced flower buds from a close cousin of the Hibiscus?  The hibiscus flower itself is also edible, and great for making a tangy cranberry-like tea.

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–Belladonna: In Italian, a beautiful lady;
In English a deadly poison. –
-Ambrose Bierce

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–The name daisy comes from the words "day's eye" because the flowers open in the daytime and close at night.—

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* a word of caution: No guarantee is made that any individual will not have an adverse reaction even to plants generally acknowledged as safe *

 

A few books to inspire the palate…

 

ISBN 1844831116

 

ISBN 0618728988

 

ISBN 0936197323

 

Oh, and let’s not forget Rover…

 

ISBN 1933662956

 

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