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Rosemary
ROSEMARY is one of the most popular of all
herbs that can be cultivated on your sunny windowsill.
Here are some uses for this aromatic plant's leaves:
~ Chop it up and add it to your stew, meats or marinara sauce, makes an
interesting flavor.
~ Lay some sprigs on top of broiled, barbequed, boiled or baked chicken,
fish, roasts
~ Research indicates consumption of rosemary helps prevent Altzheimer’s
disease.
Due to its circulatory stimulant properties, it has been known to increase
memory retention.
It’s best to consume some each day.
~ OR, to help prevent dementia/Altzheimer's use the essential oil, inhaled.
~ Wherever you have an ache or stiff joint, massage the essential oil into
your arms, shoulders,
knees (about 3 drops with a teaspoon of olive oil). It eases pain by
increasing circulation to the area
~ Make a delicious tea with the leaves.
~ More Culinary uses: put the delicate flowers in salads, or crystallize
them for garnish – they look
like little orchids! The leaves make an excellent herb butter to use on
veggies. Lay rosemary
leaves on lamb and pork to impart a distinctive flavor because it aids in
digesting fats.
~ Cosmetic uses: make a tea with the leaves and put in the bath to stimulate
blood circulation.
Its essential oil stimulates hair follicles, useful for treating premature
baldness.
~ Medicinal uses: the fresh leaves or the essential oil is inhaled to lift
some types of depression.
The essential oil (about 3 drops with a teaspoon of olive oil) can ease
muscular pain, sciatica
and neuralgia, when rubbed into the painful area.
~ Rosemary can also be used as an antiseptic gargle and mouthwash.
Are you curious about Rosemary's origin and uses over the ages?
Originating in the Mediterranean area, it has been favored by cooks and
apothecaries since ancient
times. Families burned it in the sickroom to purify the air. In courtrooms,
branches were spread on
the floor to release the essential oils, to protect occupants from "jail
fever" - typhus. During the
Plague of 1665, people carried it with them to ward it off as they traveled
through the streets.
When growing outdoors, rosemary enjoys a full-sun exposure, with excellent
drainage, and
alkaline soil. You can accomplish this by adding crushed eggshells or wood
ashes to the soil.
To harvest large amounts, especially if you can't bring your plant indoors
for the winter,
cut and bundle some branches together with a rubber band, and hang them up
to dry for a few weeks.
Strip the dried leaves from the branches, then store in a tightly-lidded
glass jar away from sunlight.
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