Its green leaves are delicate and delicate, attracting the most critical taste, that is, basil.
Basil is a kind of millet belonging to Labiatae. Its needle-shaped leaves are easy to identify, and some varieties of leaves range from light green to dark green to purple or purple.
Basil plant basil.
The name (CC0) comes from the Greek word "basilikos", which means "herbs worthy of the king", which was said by Theo Frastos, a Greek philosopher and botanist in the 3rd century BC.
Basil seems to have originated in India and was brought to the west by perfumers.
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans have realized its taste and therapeutic effect.
Greeks and Romans believed that in order to grow healthy seedlings, basil must be sown, accompanied by insults and curses, but more importantly, the basil writer Lucius junius ActhopaSculela explained how basil planted a large number of plants from the end of May to the summer solstice.
Among the Romans, it was regarded as the magical and sacred plant of Venus. Like many other aromatic herbs, it must be harvested according to precise rituals.
Some authors think that iron tools should not be used for cutting, because metal will destroy all its qualities.
It's true. In fact, if we try to cut the basil leaves with a knife, they will turn black immediately due to oxidation, so we can only cut the ingredients by hand.
The charming garden Waterhouse is a painting by Pliny, a famous Roman naturalist who believes in the seeds of basil, not the leaves.
This is a powerful aphrodisiac.
In some areas, even today, in order to increase sexual strength, farmers let donkeys and horses eat it during the breeding season.
Later, due to the characteristics of these aphrodisiacs, it became a true symbol of lovers.
Even Gauls believe that basil is a sacred plant, so only those who follow the complicated purification ceremony can harvest basil leaves.
Gauls planted basil in July and August until it blossomed.
The reaper of this sacred plant must go through a strict purification ceremony: washing hands, collecting plants from three different springs by hand, wearing clean clothes, keeping a distance from impure people (such as menstruating women), and not cutting stems with metal tools.
The sacredness of basil is also highly respected by the Egyptians, who used it to prepare sesame oil for embalming corpses, purple pleated basil (basil) Huntington Garden (Los Angeles).
(cc BY-SA 3.
0) In the Middle Ages, in order to collect basil, people had to purify their right hands, wash them in three different springs, and then put on white linen clothes with oak branches.
In Boccaccio's decameron, we found the strangest love story, and the hero of the story is the basil plant.
Boccaccio tells the story of Elizabeth da Messina in her fifth novella The Fourth Day. She buried her beloved Lorenzo's head in a big vase. Lorenzo was brutally murdered by her jealous brother. She waters the vase with tears every day. This is a scene from Boccaccio's decameron.
In addition, in the Middle Ages, basil was also used to exorcise demons, so as to drive away possessed demons. It is believed that Basil worked miracles in the case of human plague and weakness.
During the Renaissance, when Cosimo de'Medici also included basil in the fragrance of "Giardino de Semplici" (1545), its cooking and therapeutic characteristics were clearly recognized.
But all over the world, the most famous use of basil is to make the most common sauce on earth.
Garlic sauce! Beautiful pasta with spinach, cheese, olives, basil and nuts.
(Valeria Kusakova/Freepique) Basil arrived in Liguria in the second half of1century and the beginning of12nd century in history, especially the commander-in-chief of Genoa, Guglielmo Embriaco, who followed the enterprise in Genoa and was called "the first in chain mail".
The leader entrusted his real secret to Captain barto Lomé de Cotto, who hid it in one of his kitchens.
During the Crusade, when the captain returned to Genoa in Palestine, he tested the therapeutic performance of basil and took several bags of seeds with him.
A real legend was born.
At first, people said that basil leaves were only used as medicine. Later, when the ointment was taken with a pestle, it happened that some people thought that adding olive oil as a cream was good for the skin.
It is said that soy sauce accidentally fell on the bread.
Garlic was born! Legends and superstitions have always accompanied the history of spices, but strangely, some of them were not handed down until the19th century.
It is said that some British people living in India often roam around with basil necklaces to neutralize electric pulses and stay away from lightning, just as Hinduism claims.
At the same time, but only during the eclipse, basil was also eaten and put in the water source to prevent pollution.
Dedicated to sweet basil in Dursi.
An ascetic monk,19th century, Rajasthan.
(freepik), whether basil is really a "magic" plant is a controversial issue, but we can point out that Napoleon used it because of its * * * intelligence concentration.
In fact, Napoleon was convinced that its smell would help him prepare the army's maneuver plan, and history is not a legend ... Dr. Massimo Bonasot is the founder and publisher of Vitas Akana magazine, above: the stem of basil.
(Kevin Faccenda/flickr), Author: Dr Massimo Bonasorte is an Italian investigative journalist with a university degree in Semitic epigrams.
After several years as a freelance writer and director of the journal of archaeology and history in Italy, he actually read Mor.