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The first food for bears waking up after hibernation is wild garlic. Hence the other name of the plant – bear’s onion (but there is one more – wild garlic). But the benefits of this fragrant herb were appreciated not only by the brown inhabitants of the forests, wild boars are also not averse to eating wild garlic greens. Cows also like it, but from such a delicacy their milk acquires a garlic flavor. And people don’t like it. So cows have to do without their favorite plant. But people do not need to give up the fragrant greens of bear onions at all. On the contrary, it is important not to miss the wild garlic season and stock up on the vitamins that this herb contains.
What is wild garlic
Ramson belongs to the same botanical family as onions and garlic – Allium. But unlike their “cultivated” relatives, instead of weeded beds, bear onions prefer forest clearings. Botanists find the largest “plantations” of wild garlic in the humid forests of Asia, Western and Central Europe, and Siberia. Also, the plant loves the banks of swamps, streams, rivers.
Ramson is one of the earliest spring perennials. As soon as the snow melts, the first green leaves of the bear’s onion hatch in the clearings. By the way, if someone sees wild garlic for the first time, they will most likely take it for a lily of the valley. The leaves of both plants are very similar. Yes, and the flowers of the bear’s onion are also white, and as delicate as those of lilies of the valley. But the form is different. The flower of the bear’s onion resembles a small white snowflake star, lost among the greenery in the May forest.
Advantages of wild garlic
The healing properties of plants of the Allium family have been known to scientists for a long time. But researchers from Germany made a discovery not so long ago: it turns out that wild garlic leaves contain several times more manganese, magnesium, iron and sulfur than the more famous representative of the Allium family – garlic. But even with extremely high portions of sulfur, wild garlic has a more delicate smell than garlic. But it is sulfur, as you know, that is the cause of the characteristic smell of bulbous vegetables. But in the composition of wild garlic, sulfur is presented in a special form in which it binds to protein. And such a chemical transformation affects the smell of the plant. However, the absence of a pungent odor does not at all affect the beneficial properties of sulfur. It is thanks to this chemical element that bear onions are an excellent tool for regulating cholesterol in the bloodstream, preventing many cardiac disorders. The sulfur contained in the herb improves blood flow, prevents stroke and heart attacks. In addition, this element has the ability to remove salts of heavy metals and other toxic substances from the body.
Wild garlic leaves are an excellent source of phytoncides, calcium, vitamins C and A, manganese, copper, magnesium, iron, iodine, boron, zinc and selenium. Also in the composition of the leaves, the researchers found the substance adenosine, which is useful for regulating blood pressure and heart rate. In addition, wild garlic contains several types of antioxidants, and they are known to protect the cells of the human body from damage by free radicals.
Like most other bulbs, wild garlic contains beneficial compounds known as alliin and allicin. They affect the process of blood clotting. And to be more precise, they prevent too active blood clotting, thereby preventing the formation of blood clots in the vessels. Wild garlic is also useful as a natural blood thinner.
This herb is also suitable as a source of fiber, essential oils, organic acids, proteins and healthy carbohydrates. As for the energy value of the plant, there are no more than 100 kcal in 35 g of grass.
Benefits for the body
In folk medicine, wild garlic is known as an herb that reduces high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Bear onion is also known as a herbal remedy for the prevention of atherosclerosis and the treatment of tachycardia. This herb is useful for frequent dizziness and insomnia. And our great-grandmothers believed that wild garlic greens help purify the blood.
It also has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system. Herbalists use it to treat asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and influenza.
Unpleasant sensations in the stomach and intestines can also be eliminated with the help of this aromatic herb. It is useful for diarrhea, flatulence, intestinal colic. A decoction of a bear’s onion is also used to remove intestinal parasites and in the absence of appetite.
Some components contained in the plant have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. Because of this, wild garlic is considered beneficial for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Ramson is useful for improving blood circulation, treating scrofula, eczema, herpes. The juice of this plant improves memory and activates the brain by activating blood flow to it.
This herb has pronounced bactericidal properties and can serve as an effective defense in the midst of an epidemic of viral diseases. If you chew the greens of wild garlic for a couple of minutes, you can get rid of harmful microbes in the oral cavity, which means you can protect yourself from airborne diseases. A rich supply of vitamin C makes it useful for strengthening immunity and preventing scurvy.
But the juice of fresh leaves, if applied externally, can be useful for lichen, and also get rid of warts.
Alcoholic infusions of wild garlic are no less useful. They are prepared, as a rule, from one part of grass and 4 parts of vodka. Such a medicine can be used for rubbing joints affected by rheumatism, with radiculitis and neuralgia. The same remedy is useful to bury in the ears with purulent otitis media or take 30-40 drops orally to strengthen the immune system.
Use in medicine
Ramson has many useful properties. Most often in herbal medicine, this herb is referred to as a plant with the following properties:
- anti-asthma;
- anthelmintic;
- antispasmodic;
- antiseptic;
- choleretic;
- diaphoretic;
- expectorant;
- diuretic;
- antibacterial;
- antifungal;
- hypotensive;
- antipyretic.
Also, this herb is used to relieve local inflammation and irritation, against pain in the stomach and as a means of stimulating the secretion of gastric juice. This plant is useful for violations of the functionality of the thyroid gland and for metabolic disorders.
Folk recipe for hypertension
For the treatment of hypertension in the old days, an alcohol tincture of wild garlic was used. For this, young leaves and flowers of grass were taken. They were washed, put into a glass vessel and filled with vodka in an amount of 1:5. Then the vessel was placed in a dark place for 3 weeks. By the fourth week, the medicine was ready for use. Longtime herbalists advised taking 20-25 drops of the tincture three times a day. But the following must be said about the effectiveness of this medicine. It does not belong to the drugs with a quick effect, it will take at least several months (sometimes half a year) to get real results of therapy. But the effect of the treatment, they say, will last for a long time. The same tincture can be useful for the treatment of beriberi, chronic fatigue and dysbacteriosis.
Intestinal parasite remedy
To get rid of ascaris and other intestinal parasites, it is useful to take a tablespoon of wild garlic tincture before each meal. This medicine is prepared from crushed leaves and bulbs, filled with dry white wine. Insist means 2 days.
Caveats
Wild garlic lovers should know that, despite all the usefulness of this herb, there are contraindications to its use. So, for patients with pancreatitis, cholecystitis, inflammatory processes in the intestines or stomach, wild garlic is contraindicated. Do not include this herb in the menu of people with gastritis or peptic ulcer. It is better to refrain from wild garlic for pregnant women and nursing mothers. And concentrated herbal infusions are prohibited for epilepsy and some diseases of the cardiovascular system.
But even the healthiest people should not abuse wild garlic. Nutritionists advise eating no more than 20 leaves of grass per day.
What else is useful wild garlic
It would be useful to have a few wild garlic bushes in your own garden. Firstly, every spring you will have your own clearing with extremely healthy and tasty greens. Secondly, the presence of wild garlic in the garden or in the garden repels pests and moles.
How to properly collect and store
There are many plants that look very similar to wild garlic. And if, while collecting a bear’s onion for eating, it is confused with lily of the valley, I must say, this is not the biggest tragedy. It will be worse if one of the poisonous herbs, whose leaves are also very similar to wild garlic, gets on the table instead of wild garlic. The easiest way to make sure you’re picking the right plant is to rub the leaf between your fingers. After such manipulations, wild garlic will give out its characteristic garlic aroma, other plants will not have it.
For culinary needs, as a rule, only young wild garlic leaves are used – before the plant blooms. At the same time, grass bulbs are also harvested. Old, very dense or sluggish leaves are not suitable for eating, as they contain almost no nutrients.
Use in cooking
Ramson appears when there are not even the earliest vegetables yet (fruits from the greenhouse do not count). Therefore, the greens of wild garlic are liked not only by bears who are hungry after a winter sleep, but also by people who, during the winter months, also managed to miss fresh vegetables well. And this green, reminiscent of the taste of a “hybrid” of green onions and garlic, serves as an excellent addition to the spring menu.
All parts of the plant are edible: leaves, stems and bulbs. Ramson is an excellent source of useful minerals and vitamins. And in the conditions of spring beriberi, it can be considered the most useful food for strengthening immunity.
Fresh leaves are good to add to salads, sandwiches, soups, vegetable dishes, they are used to prepare fillings for pies. Fresh greens go well with eggs, fish and meat, as the vitamin C contained in the herb promotes iron absorption.
The recipe for one of the simplest salads suggests mixing boiled and chopped chicken eggs with chopped wild garlic. Add spices, dill and season with mayonnaise or sour cream. Bear onion is also suitable as a side dish. First, it should be slightly boiled, and then stewed in butter or cream. If you chop fresh wild garlic, dill, basil and pine nuts in a blender, and then season the resulting mixture with spices and olive oil, you get a dressing for pasta, a spread for sandwiches or a base for sauce for meat or fish.
Ramson is one of those herbs that are not advised to be dried, because after that it loses many of its beneficial properties. But bear onions can be frozen, pickled, fermented, salted. To pickle wild garlic for the winter, you need to put clean grass leaves in a jar, add dill, black peppercorns, coriander, horseradish, bay leaf and pour hot brine over everything.
Before use, it is advisable to store fresh wild garlic leaves in the refrigerator in a paper bag – this is how they retain their freshness and nutrients.
Only in 1992 in Europe wild garlic received the official status of a medicinal plant. But in fact, mankind has known about the beneficial properties of this herb for more than a century – even the Egyptians and ancient Romans used it to improve the functioning of the digestive system, as well as protection against plague and cholera. Today, people know much more about the healing power of wild garlic, and more and more often this herb appears on our tables as food.