Benefits of Spices for Health

Spices are widely known as a food flavoring. In addition, the spice also has health benefits. This is a natural way to maintain a healthy body.

Several types of herbs to cleanse the body to remove toxins in it.

Here are some herbs that are commonly encountered in everyday dishes and beneficial for your health, as reported by Boldsky.

Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper has a function as an antiseptic. You can eat them to remove toxins from the body.

Cayenne pepper also contains antioxidants. Cayenne can protect the body from gastroenteritis or other gastrointestinal infections. Among other benefits, cayenne pepper can also improve digestion and cure diarrhea.

Garlic

This is one of nutritious herbs for heart patients. Forget the strong smell of this spice. Antioxidant and antifungal properties make it a powerful antiseptic. In addition to cleaning the inside of the body, garlic also protect the gastrointestinal tract from cancer and other diseases.

Turmeric

Turmeric can give a yellow color to foods. In addition, turmeric is also used to improve skin tone. Turmeric is an herb that can be used to cleanse the body by flushing toxins.
Turmeric reduce inflammation, improve digestion, fight fungal and viral infections, and contains anti-inflammatory.

image: Boldsky

Ginger

Ginger is useful to cleanse the body. Ginger has anti-inflammatory, antacid and laxative compounds. A piece of ginger can be used to treat indigestion, stomach ulcers and other stomach infections. You can also add it to your cup of tea to relieve headaches, digestive disorders, as well as treat a cough and cold.

Red chili powder

Red chili powder can bring on hot flashes. It is useful to detoxify the body.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon has astringent and antimicrobial component to cleanse the body and supporting a weak digestive system. Cinnamon also controls blood sugar levels.

Benefits of Garlic for Health

Garlic is one of the spices that recognized its benefits. Various studies conducted since the late 19th century to determine the efficacy and benefits behind the stinging smell of garlic.

PW Semmler, a German scientist, was the first to do so. He examined where the acrid smell of garlic comes from. According to him, the sharp smell of garlic comes as dialil disulfide.

In 1944, CV Cavallito was also doing similar research. Apparently, in addition to dialil disulfide, there is other substance in garlic, allisin. Both of these substances are the origin of the efficacy of garlic.

Allicin contain antibiotics. However, antibiotic substances can only come out after either crushed garlic with chopped or pureed. The more crushed garlic, the ore antibiotics subtances are getting out.

Allicin also serves as an anti-fungal agent that can treat skin fungus. But do not put too much garlic on the skin, because for some people who are sensitive, it can cause the skin to 'burn'.

Garlic is a predicate as a miracle herbal medicine, because it contained a variety of benefits. Every 100 grams of garlic, contained 71 grams of water, 23.1 grams carbohydrate; 4.5 grams of protein, 0.20 grams of fat; 0.22 milligrams of vitamin B1, 15 milligrams of vitamin C; 134 milligrams of phosphorus; 42 milligrams of calcium; and 1 milligram of iron.

A number of studies suggest that the content of sulfur compound, allicin and diallyl sulphides in garlic makes its potential as a drug, as well as a natural antibiotic and antioxidant.

Hydrogen sulfide which is a result of reaction between the compound allicin in garlic with red blood cells in the human body could relaxes the blood vessels and keeps blood flowing easily.

However, excessive use is not recommended, because it can have side effects such as a substance anticoagulation (thinning) in the blood, causing irritation, damage to the digestive tract.

Garlic is also beneficial for pregnant women. A study by a team from the Academic Department of Obstertrics & Gynaecology, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London showed that consumption of garlic during pregnancy can reduce the risk of pregnancy complications as well as help raise the baby weight.

Garlic also helps strengthen stamina. Researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah reported that garlic extract can fight the virus that causes flu, fungus and bacteria.

Some researches also suggested that people who regularly consumed garlic had lower risk of stomach and colon cancer. Cholesterol and fat on the body are also lower.

Vanilla Cultivation

Vanilla is a kind of orchid plants. More than 20,000 varieties of orchids, vanilla is the only one that produces something edible.

This plant is a species of vines that require some sort of buffer, and a little shade. Vanilla plant is usually spread on trees in tropical wet forests in the lowlands.

In Mexico, traditional plantations using indigenous plants such as pichoco as a buffer. But recently, the orange tree is quite successful to be used as a buffer of vanilla plants.

Vanilla produces greenish yellow flowers that look like waxy and grow in clusters. Each flower only blooms for a few hours one day a year only.

The Indians Totonak known as people who are very carefully pollinate the vanilla plants.

They only pollinate a few flowers in each cluster, so that the plant's energy is not depleted, which can weaken it and make it easy to crop pests.

In like manner do the Indians, the results are very good, a long green fruit with very small seeds. The fruit are harvested by hand, from six to nine months later, before completely cooked.

Where Does Vanilla Come From?

Vanilla plant is known by the Aztecs as tlilxochitl. Tlilxochitl means black flower that matches the color of its fruit after processing. Aztecs used vanilla to flavor drinks made from cacao known by the name of chocolate.

Montezuma, the Aztec emperor of Mexico, is said to serve drinks to the conqueror of Spain, Hernan Cortes in 1520. Cortes then introduced the cocoa and vanilla beans to Europe.

Hot chocolate with a vanilla flavor was very popular in Europe. In 1602, Hugh Morgan, apothecary Queen Elizabeth I suggested the use of vanilla to add flavor or aroma. Vanilla is used in alcoholic beverages, tobacco and perfume in the 1700s.

However, long before the advent of the Aztec empire, the Indians Totonak from Veracruz, Mexico, has been planting, harvesting and processing of fruit vanilla. Therefore, it may be said vanilla is a native plant of Central America.

Vanilla plants were taken to Europe for cultivation in the early 1800's. After that, the vanilla was brought to the islands in the Indian Ocean.

But the efforts of the horticulturist to produce the fruit of this plant was largely unsuccessful, because there was no natural pollinators, bees of the genus Melipona.

Then, Mexico had practically monopolized the trade of vanilla from the 16th century until the 19th century. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a man who had been slaves in the French island of Reunion, perfected a practical method for pollinating flowers by hand, so the plants can bear fruit.

Since then, the commercial cultivation of these plants growing in European countries. The islands of the former French colonies, such as Reunion, Comoro and Madagascar, known as the largest producer of vanilla in the world until now.