Article content:
No dacha is complete without dill beds. The greens of this green culture are loved by many housewives, and at the same time complaints are often heard from gardeners that, not having had time to pamper summer residents with fragrant foliage, dill released flower stalks. After in July or August, yellow nondescript flowers fall from large umbrellas, seeds appear on the fennel. It is their most in the plant appreciates and official medicine, and traditional healers.
And although in cooking, flattened oval seeds are most often used only in bread baking and preservation, this is a true storehouse of useful substances. What are the beneficial properties of dill seeds when it is better to harvest them, and how to use them?
What are the benefits of dill seeds?
All parts of the dill plant, starting from the rhizomes and ending with the stem, are rich in nutrients, but the seeds of this crop contain record quantities of macro and microelements, active substances, essential acids and essential oils.
Per kilogram of dry seeds accounts for:
- 10.8 grams of potassium;
- 4.4 grams of phosphorus;
- 9.6 grams calcium;
- 0.65 grams of sodium, as well as manganese, zinc, copper, iron, molybdenum and other equally valuable trace elements.
During ripening, valued in traditional medicine, dill seeds accumulate not only useful elements, proteins and vitamins, but also flavonoids and phytoncides. If in the aboveground part of the plant and its roots the oil content does not exceed 3.8%, then the fruits by 14.65% consist of this indispensable product in the food, pharmaceutical and soap industry, than the seeds of dill are most useful.
65.5% of dill oil consists of palmitic acid, 25.3% of petroselinic acid and 6% of linoleic acid. And although the biochemical composition of the vegetable crop and the beneficial properties of dill seeds were studied relatively recently, many thousands of years ago, representatives of the most ancient civilizations had a genuine interest in the plant, which was facilitated by unpretentiousness and its wide distribution from the North of Europe to the Mediterranean.
Dill seeds in folk medicine
In ancient Rome, dill was considered a plant that can relieve headaches, awaken interest in life and the opposite sex, perhaps because of this, the young man could present a wreath or a bouquet of umbels of straws topped with umbrellas. Chapters on dill are in the scientific works of Dioscorides and Galen. Dioscorides, in particular, offered dill as a drug for eye diseases. A representative of the Eastern academic school - Avicenna considered fragrant greens and seeds as an indispensable tool from a lot of various ailments. What is the use of fennel seeds?
at his dacha It is in his treatises that the means for increasing lactation for the nursery is first mentioned. This scientist belongs to the authorship of funds, now attributable to traditional medicine, where the seeds are rid of hiccups and heaviness in the stomach. For gastric pains, Avicenna suggested using enemas with dill decoction, and steaming the seeds and leaves of the plant should be applied to the hemorrhoids to relieve pain and prevent bleeding. Soothing and toning properties of dill seed and herbs were also noted by this scholar of antiquity.
Medieval physicians in many respects used the advice of the ancients and treated dill patients with intestinal, inflammatory, skin and eye diseases. Today, when the composition of vegetable raw materials is well studied, the area of application and the beneficial properties of dill seed have only expanded, and it is possible to gather medicinal fruits in the garden plot.
How to harvest dill seeds?
In order to use dill seeds for medicinal purposes, it is important to carefully collect and preserve them. The easiest way to do this is if:
- at the beginning of seed ripening, cut off the tops of the stems with umbrellas;
- lower fresh raw materials in paper bags with umbrellas to the bottom;
- fasten packages on stalks with thread and elastic;
- for a week to hang beams in a ventilated dry room.
During this period, the seeds dry up, their ripening occurs, and they naturally fall to the bottom of the bag.
In order to preserve all the beneficial properties of dill seeds, they are stored under a lid in a closed glass or ceramic dish. During drying and storage, it is important not to allow the seeds to stay in a brightly lit place or in dampness.
Before collecting dill seeds, you need to make sure that they are not affected by pests, there are no signs of mold and other diseases on the umbrellas. If the raw material is stored correctly, it will not lose its quality up to five years. At home, fennel seeds are a simple and effective means to facilitate the discharge of gases and stimulate digestion. From the seeds they prepare diuretic and anti-inflammatory decoctions, make lotions from ulcers on the skin and eye irritation.
But with all the healing properties of the seeds of dill and have contraindications, therefore, to get involved in self-treatment, and in this case it can be dangerous.
Useful properties of the seeds of dill
The essential oils contained in the seeds and phytoncides, vitamins. Proteins and trace elements have a beneficial effect on many systems and internal organs of a person. The beneficial properties of dill seed are used for:
- activating digestive processes and producing bile;
- disinfecting and relieving inflammation in purulent processes on the skin, in the urogenital area and in the respiratory system;
- pressure normalization;
- cardiovascular system improvement;
- relieve fatigue and nervous excitement.
Nowadays, the seeds of dill recognized by traditional medicine are also used by official science. Anetin, a substance that helps relieve spasms of heart pain, angina, and colic in patients with gastritis, has been isolated from plant materials.
A decoction and infusions of crushed seeds are recommended as a supportive agent for the treatment of the initial stages of hypertension. Due to the active substances contained in dill, plant-based preparations have a beneficial effect on the state of the vascular walls, preventing the development of atherosclerosis and coronary insufficiency. How are fennel seeds still beneficial? Confirmed, described by Avicenna, the positive effect of dill seeds on the urogenital sphere, as well as the condition of the liver and the performance of the intestine. Dill tea from the seeds of this plant is effective for colitis, heaviness in the stomach and increased gas formation.
bags To prepare an infusion for 4 tablespoons of chopped seeds take 500 ml of hot water. Means maintain 60 minutes then filter and drink in the morning and in the evening on 100-150 ml. For constipation, an infusion of dill seeds before meals is taken three times a day, 80–100 ml. Due to its antispasmodic beneficial properties, the seeds of dill in broth are able to relieve regular stomach pains.
The traditional remedy for infantile colic is “dill water”, which at home is easy to prepare from dried dill or fennel seeds.
It is this plant that is part of the pharmaceutical collection today. Infusion for children is prepared from a spoonful of dry seeds and a glass of hot boiled water. Baby means give a teaspoon before each feeding. At the same time to store water should not be longer than a day.
As a natural diuretic, an aqueous infusion of dill seeds is used, which is ground or ground before use. On a tablespoon of fruit is 250 ml of boiling water. After 15 minutes of infusion, the filter is filtered and cooled. Drink the infusion should be 50 ml to 6 times a day, or three times 100 ml before eating.
In this case, the beneficial properties of dill seed are gently anesthetized, relieve inflammation and spasms of nephritis, urolithiasis and other diseases of the kidneys and ureters.
An infusion of 2 tablespoons of seeds and a glass of water will help to cope with bedwetting. Means 12 hours infused in a thermos, after which it is taken in 80 ml in the morning. The course of treatment is 10 days. Many generations of women have tested on themselves how dill seeds are useful for enhancing milk production. The effectiveness of the means is confirmed by official medicine, which approved the inclusion of dill seed in the composition of specialized teas for activating lactation. Young mothers infusion should drink half a glass twice a day.
For anemia, nervous overexcitement or insomnia, fennel seeds boiled in milk are useful. To do this, take a glass of milk with a tablespoon of fruit and keep the mixture on low heat for 10 minutes. When the liquid has cooled, it is filtered and drunk three times a day. The same remedy has a beneficial effect on the state of patients with tuberculosis, people suffering from obsessive cough, bronchitis and pharyngitis.
If the patient does not tolerate lactose, relieve nervous tension, calm down, and sleep a good spoon will help spoon ground seeds. The powder is taken three times daily before meals.
Fresh dill seed decoction is used for conjunctivitis, discomfort and visual fatigue. In this case, gauze napkins are impregnated with the agent and warm compresses are made for 10 minutes. A strong infusion can also be used for rinsing eyes.
Contraindications for taking dill seeds
Due to its medicinal properties and accessibility in official and traditional medicine, dill seeds are highly valued and widely used. Broths, powders and infusions of this plant material can help in the treatment of many serious diseases, and they act gently and with little or no negative effects or side effects.
But no matter how useful the seeds of dill are, they can be used for medicinal purposes only after consulting with a specialist, with the certainty that nothing threatens the body. In addition to the individual intolerance of individual substances in the composition of dill and its seeds, there are other contraindications that can outweigh the beneficial properties of dill seed.
With rashly receiving large doses, dill can expand blood vessels, which negatively affects the well-being of people with low blood pressure.
In such patients, dill seed can cause weakness, visual impairment, fainting, and muscle weakness. If you cancel the reception of decoction or infusion, the state quickly normalized. But for pregnant women and people suffering from intestinal atony, it is better to refrain from using dill seeds.
