Only several branches of a basil can change taste of any dish. This seasoning is added to salads, vegetable soups, pesto sauce. The basil is used in combination with other spicery and herbs, decorate with its leaves dishes. These greens are appreciated not only gustatory qualities, but also the useful properties caused by availability of the essential oils and antioxidants protecting an organism from different diseases.
The aroma of a basil differs depending on a grade. It can be peppery, clove, cinnamon or lemon. The grade affects also color of a basil – generally color of this plant green, but at an opal basil leaves of beautiful violet color.
Advantage of a basil
The basil is both spice, and a herb. If carefully to approach the description of its useful properties, it is possible to make the small encyclopedia, but the nobility the most important of them is enough to include these greens in a diet.
Leaves of a basil contain tannic and mineral substances. The basil is vitamin-rich, the vegetable fats, simple sugars, phytoncides, carotene and essential oils defining aroma of a basil – thin, memorable and gentle.
The basil can be used as a natural antibiotic as it has antimycotic, disinfecting and bactericidal effect. This grass was since ancient times used for treatment of gastritises and colitis, whooping cough, a headache, intestinal gripes, bronchial asthma.
Besides, the basil is the antidepressant capable to save from a condition of alarm and nervousness. It calms nerves and removes stress.
The basil can restore immunity, it interferes with development of infections. Even stomatologists appreciated this grass as it destroys a huge number of bacteria in a mouth, allowing to forget about caries, stomatitis, a gingivita and a dental plaque.