White mary, or quinoa in another way, is a plant that has an ambiguous reputation. On the one hand, it is a weed that is characterized by incredible vitality and rapid spread. On the other hand, it is a healthy herb that has been used as food for a long time. And at present, delicious salads are being prepared from it, and they are also used as a medicine for colds.
White Mary: description of the plant
Probably there will not be such a person in the middle and southern strip of Russia who has never seen this plant near a house or on a garden plot. The grass has many varieties and can grow or be a plant with one stem and leaves.
Leaves, as a rule, have a rhomboid shape, and at the edges they are decorated with non-sharp cloves. The name white plant got the name gauze due to a peculiar white coating on the leaves on both sides. Quinoa blooms from late July to September. Its paniculate inflorescences, their length can be from 10 to 45 cm. One plant can produce about 100 thousand extremely tenacious seeds per season. They retain their viability after passing through the esophagus of animals and birds. Do not lose their properties after a long stay in the soil in anticipation of better conditions for growth.
Weed damage
White Mary is a weed that requires constant destruction in vegetable gardens and agricultural fields. After all, the reproduction rate of a quinoa is very high. In case of untimely measures, cultural crops die. In height, the plant can reach about a meter, which creates a shade in the garden areas.
They fight the invasion of this weed on the fields with the help of herbicides and loosening the soil. In garden areas, you can cover the gauze with a black film so that it burns out. Lawns clogged with a swan need to be mowed regularly so that the seeds do not have time to ripen.
Cooking use
People of the older generation remember how in the hungry years of the war, white gauze saved people from starvation. The leaves were dried and baked fritters from them. Most often used seeds from which porridge was cooked. The abuse of quinoa dishes can lead to the loss of nitrogen-containing substances in the body. As a result, muscular dystrophy and metabolic disorders occur. A person has depression, and immunodeficiency appears.
In Romania, white gauze is used as a seasoning for souring zucchini, tomatoes and salad peppers. In winter, it falls to dishes of meat and mamalyga.
To prepare a vitamin salad, you will need a bunch of quinoa herbs, carrots (you can boil it), sour cream, a teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Everything is ground in any way and seasoned with sour cream and vinegar.
There is another recipe. You need to take sorrel (60 grams), quinoa (160 grams), boiled potatoes (4-5 medium tubers), boiled egg. All ingredients are crushed and mixed. The dish is seasoned with grated horseradish and vegetable oil.
Quinoa and oatmeal fritters
This dish was prepared by our ancestors in Russian ovens. In the 21st century, the preparation of fritters has undergone some changes. The composition of the modern recipe includes the following herbs and products:
- quinoa;
- nettle;
- green onion;
- oatmeal or flour;
- 1 egg
- salt and spices.
In the blender bowl, grind all the greens. Oatmeal is poured with boiling water and infused for 10-15 minutes before swelling. Two masses are combined, 1 egg and spices are added. Future pancakes are laid on a hot pan with an oil spoon and fry on both sides. Sour cream or milk can be served with the dish.
Use in traditional medicine
White mary is not used in official medicine and pharmaceuticals. But there are many folk recipes using this weed. Which is not surprising, because the composition of Marya white includes carotene, saponin, vitamin C, organic acids.
To stretch the splinter and heal the wounds, crushed quinoa grass is used. The same tool effectively treats the decaying bed of the nail. To prepare the medicine, freshly picked grass is kneaded in a mortar.
The infusion of the plant is prepared as follows. Take 4 tablespoons of fresh quinoa grass, pour a glass of water and boil for 15-20 minutes. The cooled composition treats skin itching, wounds, rinsing the mouth with gingivitis and throat diseases. Inside take with diarrhea, headaches and hysterical conditions.
Hippocrates in his teachings mentioned the infusion of quinoa as a cure for cough and hoarseness.
Fresh steamed grass helps with radiculitis. For this, the plant needs to be ground and applied as a compress to the sore spot and left for a couple of hours for exposure.
Juice from quinoa cleanses the gastrointestinal tract and removes toxic substances from the body. For its preparation, the raw material is passed through a meat grinder, the resulting mixture is squeezed. Juice is taken orally at 70 grams with one tablespoon of honey half an hour before meals. Outwardly, juice is used to treat corns on legs.
You need to collect the quinoa in the spring before it blooms. Do not use grass growing near roads. It is best to find white gauze in a summer cottage or in a village.
Contraindications
The quinoa consumed in large quantities can worsen the condition in chronic diseases of the digestive system. You can not use gauze for diseases of the urinary system, gall bladder, kidney stones.
The shelf life of the dried raw quinoa is 1 year. After this period, the use of marya will harm the body.