Description of sunflower, chemical composition and useful properties of inflorescences, benefits and harms of flowers. What dishes and medicines are prepared from them? Official medicine introduces an extract of sunflower flowers into medicines to normalize blood pressure, stimulate bile secretion and prevent atherosclerosis.
Contraindications and harm of solar grass
You should not supplement the diet with dishes, the ingredient of which are sunflower inflorescences, if you have to constantly control your weight. Their use improves appetite.
Sunflower flowers can cause harm in people with an individual intolerance to this type of plant. An allergic reaction can occur in persons who cannot eat seeds, sunflower oil, cannot walk through a flowering field without first taking an antihistamine.
You should not experiment with drugs from the arsenal of traditional medicine for pregnant, lactating and children under 12 years old. There is no need to supplement the above categories with dried flowers - the medical effect is too pronounced and it is not known what organic reactions will occur.
How are sunflower flowers eaten?
Collecting sunflower flowers begins immediately after flowering. The tubular flowers should be soft to the touch, and the marginal flowers should be thin and delicate. As soon as seed formation begins, all parts of the plant will coarse.
Do not eat sunflower flowers as herbs, adding to cold dishes and snacks. Before fresh application, they must be pre-blanched. Only in this way can a pronounced choleretic effect be stopped.
For culinary purposes, inflorescences are rarely used. You can try adding scalded tubular flowers to boiled vegetable salads, or garnish snacks with bright outer petals.
To prepare a salad with sunflower flowers, combine a chopped head of red cabbage, 200 g of spinach, fresh tubular flowers - 1, 5-2 cups, a bunch of shredded cilantro. Stir in 2 pressed garlic cloves. Dressing: 1/4 cup each of apple cider vinegar and olive oil, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Salt, pepper, stir vigorously and cover, allow to stand for 10-15 minutes for the juice to stand out. If there is little juice, add 1-2 tablespoons of boiled water, mix again. Sprinkle with hot fried sunflower seeds and chopped basil before serving. Served right there.
French peasants in the 18th-19th centuries baked tubular flowers along with artichokes on coals, and now chefs from elite restaurants can offer guests fresh steamed sunflower buds seasoned with various spices and herbs. But these dishes are rather experimental, and gourmets are able to appreciate them.
The inflorescences give a new taste to marinades and pickles, but they are not used in their pure form as spices. Vinegar is infused on the flowers: fill the jar by 1/3 and fill it with ordinary vinegar essence. Then the liquid is filtered, squeezing the cake. Store in a tightly closed glass container out of sunlight.
Sunflower Flower Drink Recipes:
- Sunflower tea … Brew a tablespoon of dried flowers of different types 0.5 liters of water, let stand for 15 minutes, filter. It quenches thirst wonderfully in the hot season. Sweeten with fructose.
- Hearty drink … Pour boiling milk over sunflower flowers, leave for 20 minutes, sweeten. Dilute with half water.
- Compote … Vitamin compote is boiled from dried fruits and fresh tubular flowers are poured in 1-2 minutes before turning off, 1 handful per 1 liter of liquid. They are filtering. Better to sweeten with honey.
Interesting facts about sunflower
Official medicine introduces the flowers of the sun plant into many medicines. But the Indians attached an esoteric meaning to this healing ingredient. They believed that such an additive to a mixture, tincture or dish balances the feminine and masculine principles, increases self-confidence.
Thanks to its subtle, sophisticated aroma, sunflower flowers are added to bath mixes, soap and candles. To scent bed linen, you can make a sachet yourself - dry the petals in the shade in daylight.
The Peruvian Indians, Incas, Aztecs and Otomi of Mexico worshiped the sunflower as a solar deity. The locals called the god Punchao or Inti. They made golden images of the plant and worshiped them.
In Europe, seeds were first sown in 1510 in the botanical garden of Madrid. The botanist and naturalist L'Obel in 1576 called the plant the flower of the sun. At first, the plant was grown for decorative purposes, and then for medicinal purposes, and only then as a food crop. However, seeds became "popular" much later, by the 18th century, and were used as a substitute for coffee beans. They began to be used for the manufacture of oil at the beginning of the 19th century. And in the 17th century, flower baskets were baked on coals and consumed with sunflower oil and vinegar.
The sunflower was brought to Russia by Peter I, where the large-scale production of sunflower oil began. Here the seeds were appreciated in the same form as they are used now. They have become a favorite folk delicacy.
But in America, latex began to be mined from sunflowers. Products made from it are hypoallergenic and in demand in medicine.
The sunflower flower is a symbol:
- In Kansas (USA) and Kitakyush (Japan) - cities;
- Vegan Society;
- The aesthetic movement in the 19th century;
- The Spiritualist Church;
- Sunflower Movement - 2014 protest.
Blooming sunflower not only helps people, but is also used to cleanse the soil. After the Chernobyl disaster, flowers were sown on the shores of ponds and lakes in order to quickly remove strontium-90 and cesium-137 and cleanse the soil. And after flowering, the plants were removed and burned. The seeds could get on the market and provoke a series of oncological diseases.
Popular sunflower varieties are presented in the table:
| Name | Characteristic | Maturation, days |
| Antaeus | Medium basket 23 cm, medium height | 111 |
| Bohdan | High-yielding, basket 18 cm | 112-118 |
| Odysseus | High, 24 cm | 105-109 |
| Yang | High yielding, 25 cm, large seeds | 100-104 |
| Alexey | Small, small, basket up to 20 cm | 114 |
| Gourmet | Stunted, ecologically adapted | 110 |
| Nutcracker | Drought tolerant | 114-119 |
Recipes with Sunflower Flowers Medicines:
- From temperature and to eliminate the symptoms of ARVI … A tablespoon is insisted in a glass of boiling water and a tablespoon of honey is diluted. You can take 2-3 glasses a day.
- To improve immunity and prevent colds … Reed petal flowers are tightly folded in a glass jar, filling 1/3. Pour in vodka and put away in a dark place. Insist at room temperature until the liquid in the jar turns into a dark oily substance. Dose for adults - 1 tablespoon 3 times a day one hour after meals. For adolescents, a teaspoon 2 times a day is enough. The medicine is very effective, the duration of treatment is no longer than 3 days. Can be used as an external remedy for psoriasis.
- For gout … A tincture is made, as in the previous recipe, only instead of flowers, a mixture of an equal number of flowers and lower leaves is poured with vodka or alcohol. It is taken on an empty stomach in a tablespoon diluted in half a glass of water for 30 days.
- From muscle strain … Dried flowers are brewed so as to obtain a homogeneous gruel, the excess liquid is filtered off and the raw materials are used as lotions.
- Antipyretic … Dense tea is brewed - 4 tablespoons of flowers in a glass of water. It is taken hot in half or a third of the glass symptomatically.
- Diuretic … Brew with boiling water, 250 ml, 2 tablespoons of sunflower flowers, boil for 10 minutes. Strain, wring out. The liquid is brought to its original volume. Take 2 tablespoons 20 minutes before each meal, 4 times a day.
During chemotherapy in the treatment of stomach cancer, the following recipe is used: pour 3 tablespoons of dried plant flowers with 1 liter of milk and put in a water bath to reduce the volume by half. Cooled first at room temperature, then in the refrigerator. Take 30 minutes before meals, 3 times a day. The course of treatment is repeated three times, with an interval of 3 weeks. For each course you need to drink 2 liters of stewed milk.
Regardless of the cultivars, flowers have the same properties. By planting a sunflower in your garden, you solve several problems: you will improve your health and get a valuable addition to your diet.
