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🌿 Purple Plant Power: What Gives Plants Their Purple Hue?

  The purple color in plants is primarily due to anthocyanins, a group of water-soluble pigments belonging to the flavonoid family. These pigments range in color from red to blue, depending on the pH level within the plant tissue. Anthocyanins serve several roles: Attract pollinators Protect against UV radiation Act as natural antioxidants 🥗 Nutritional Advantages of Purple Plants Purple vegetables are not just eye-catching—they’re health-boosting: High in antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins It may help reduce inflammation Support heart and brain health It may help lower the risk of some cancers Promote better vision and skin health 🍆 Fruits & Vegetables with Purple Varieties Many everyday produce items have purple counterparts. Here's a list, along with notes on whether they are natural, selectively bred, or hybridized. Other vegetables-- some not common in North America-- are listed below the types we are more familiar with: 1. 🍅 Tomatoes Purple Variety: Indigo Rose, ...

Garlic To Go

Separate and peel cloves from about 10-20 garlic heads (crowns) and whirr up in your blender. We all know that raw garlic can't be beat for antibiotic action (as a non-medical person that is what I am understanding from what I read) --it's the  allicin .  I stopped taking a particular 'superior' brand of garlic tablet because it contained silicon dioxide (sand) that has been suggested to contribute to "chronic fatigue syndrome". I ramped up my use of raw garlic.  ( IMPORTANT : Herbs are potent medicine. Do your due diligence and speak to your health provider about any conflicts that might exist between garlic and any prescribed medications). There are circumstances (lots of them) when I really don't have the luxury of time needed to peel and chop garlic. So, I am doing what  Dr. Ben Kim  describes his mother doing: I simply peel cloves of entire garlic bulbs, dump them into my Vita-mix canister, let it rip until they are finely chopped, nearly liquified, a...

Health Benefits and Other Uses for Lemon Balm, Melissa Officinalis

Lemon Balm, melissa officianalis   ©Cynthia Zirkwitz 2019 Lemon Balm, or  melissa officinalis , is a perennial herb from the mint family.  It may have originated in Europe, the Middle East or Asia, but now it grows like a wild thing in my garden, and maybe yours?  But unlike other "invasive plants" (sometimes incorrectly labeled "weeds"), lemon balm has so many wonderful attributes-- lemon scent, lemon-y flavour, beautiful fresh vital green colour-- that you would never hack it out and dump it in the forest.  However, I do suggest that you grow it in a container or a bed that doesn't have access to other parts of your garden. During the summer small white flowers show up, with bee-attracting nectar in them.  ( Melissa  is actually Greek for 'honey bee'.)  Melissa may well be the "honey leaf" referred to by Theophrastus, (c. 371-c.287BC) successor to Aristotle, and called "the father of botany" by the Greeks. BALM IN THE BIBLE Besides ...

Lazy Perogy Vegan Poutine with Mushroom and Onion Sauce

This perogy poutine is right out of my head, so please feel free to improve upon it, eliminate and add ingredients, do whatever you need to do to make it seem like a lazy perogy version of poutine for you. That said, my husband raved about this particular vegan perogy-poutine recipe and said it was his fave of the three variations (the other two being: Poutine with Cheesy Smoky White Sauce and Poutine with Fat-Free Cheesy Nacho Sauce , also both vegan, of course).  So maybe the ingredients are just right for you as well.  You will have to try it and see what you think.  Mildred Moon is now making Vegan Perogy Poutine for sale in her Food Truck at the Comox Valley Saturday Farmer's Market 9am-1pm (2023 summer) LAZY PEROGY VEGAN POUTINE with MUSHROOM and ONION SAUCE 650 g/ 1 1/2 pounds  frozen potato fries The Mushroom and Onion Sauce: 2 T.      cooking oil (I used olive oil) 1          organic mushroom bouillon c...