Benefits of eating curry leaves: Don't throw away your curry leaves from your dishes.

Curry leaves, a typical part of Indian cuisine, it's an ingredient that most of us Indians consider precious and use in the dishes that we cook irrespective of being a vegetarian dish or a non-vegetarian one. However, most of the new generation Indians use the leaves while cooking but while consuming the dishes we throw them away. This has been practiced by many Indians due to the lack of the right knowledge of curry leaves.

Curry leaves are coined as the ingredient in a dish that will eliminate all the harmful chemicals and side effects of the ingredients that are used in the curry due to its medicinal properties. The proofs on using Curry leaves by Indians can be found long before the establishment of civilization. Especially considering the southern part of India it is one of the primary ingredients that have been used in almost all dishes.

Quite recently I asked one of my friends living in Canada about a thing that he considers precious and has been preserved for a long time. He instantly Whatsapp me a photo of curry leaves planted on a pot kept inside his apartment beside a window. He further says it's the one plant that he has cared much about rather than any other plant. Moreover, as his mother is also residing with him she is definite on using curry Source: spiceography.com

leaves in her dishes as she is from South India.

Curry leaves have a long list of benefits and growing the plant might seem to be a bit of a struggle as it takes a huge amount of time for the plant to get adaptable to the surroundings. I even had many failed attempts. It's better to plant it during the monsoon days with the provision of an adequate amount of sunlight and you should care for it much.

Here I'm about to describe to you why you shouldn't throw away your curry leaves from your dishes rather than eat them.

Having a Curry leaves plant in your house will help you to pluck fresh leaves and directly use them in your dishes. Today most people buy Curry leaves and those are the ones with more pesticides than the vegetables although it is associated with medicinal properties and is of removing harmful chemicals from dishes. In addition, if you have a fresh supply or a relative or a friend has the plant it's better you pluck fresh at the required time and use readily or store them effectively. Let's first understand the benefits of curry leaves.

Benefits of curry leaves

Curry leaves can be considered as the one most beneficial medicinal plants which can be used along with our dishes daily. Originally belonging to India, Curry leaves are useful both as a medicinal plant as well as for its culinary uses. The high aromatic flavor along with the citrus taste is one of the key elements that make it to be used in your dishes. Being a versatile herb useful in culinary aspects the curry leaves and the curry leaves plant are beneficial medically also. Here are certain benefits of eating curry leaves:

Rich in antioxidants

Whenever you search about health and diet in Google or read about it in a health-related magazine the term which you always ponder upon is the term antioxidants. So what are these antioxidants? Antioxidants are compounds that are present in the body which will help you to be healthy as well as diseases to stay away from your body. Moreover, it improves the immunity aspect, a much-needed thing during this era of the pandemic.

The curry leaves are rich in antioxidant components which will be helpful in the oral treatment as well as the extracts of curry leaves have been seen to be beneficial for the repair of stomach diseases moreover, reducing the damages by oxidative stress.

Heart disease risk reduction

The use of curry leaves in dishes and eating them rather than throwing them away will reduce the high levels of cholesterol which may be responsible for heart diseases.

Protection for your nervous systems

Consumption of curry leaves will lead to the protection of the nervous system in the human body. Moreover, the studies conducted have demonstrated that the consumption of curry leaves is helpful in the protection against neurodegenerative conditions which causes loss of neurons and signs in the nervous system leading to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease.

Anticancer compounds

As per the recent studies conducted they have been deceived that the curry leaves will be containing cancer prevention compounds which will benefit in the struggle of the body against cancerous cells. As the researchers are ongoing and several tests are to be conducted we cannot completely agree with the anticancer benefits of the curry leaves.

Diabetic control

A study implicated that one of the benefits of using curry leaves is to maintain the blood sugar levels which will be beneficial in the protection from diabetes, a common disease nowadays mainly due to the over consumption of sugar compounds. Eating disorders and the high consumption of high sugar foods and soft drinks along with an imbalanced diet are the causes of diabetes that you should avoid.

Curry leaves for hair

The one thing that we all Indians agree to is that of putting oil to our hair irrespective of the region you will always belong to the most percentage of Indians who would like to put oil in their hair based on the traditional methods of their region. One of the benefits of curry leaves is that it is beneficial for the hair growth and strengthening of our hair. Curry leaves can be used while you prepare oils and it has been abundantly used in various ayurvedic medicines.

These are certain benefits of consuming curry leaves. You can also consume curry leaves powder or use it in dishes although it may not be beneficial just as the fresh ones, however, it will bring certain of the benefits that have been mentioned above. Let's now move on to the underlying aspect of the storage of curry leaves.

So how can we store Curry leaves?

I understand that curry leaf plants may not be readily available in your backyard, from your apartment garden or you may be in the process of growing a new one. However, there will be a plant available in your locality, the house of your relative or friends, or your backyards. Here are certain beneficial ways by which you can store your curry leaves for your future needs.

Source: thechannel46.com

Leave them in the refrigerator

Initially after plucking remove the stalks and give them a thorough wash. Let the water drain out and allow the leaves to dry. Meanwhile, the curry leaves are drying. Take a box, wash it properly, dry it, and spread paper towels on it. You can also use normal newspaper or tissue paper. Now as the leaves are dry using another set of paper towels or tissues wrap the entire leaves in an air-tight manner. Place the wrapped leaves in the box, close the lid and place it in the refrigerator which will last for a longer time.

In a paper towel

Initially separate the leaves from its stem and wrap them in a kitchen paper towel without any exposure to air or light. A thorough wrap will make the curry leaves last for more than 10 days.

Freeze them

Wash the leaves and just as the way you stored it in the refrigerator let it dry, wrap it in a paper towel or newspaper, and put it in a box. Ensure that there is a layer of paper spread in the box. Then keep the entire box in the freezer with the lid closed intact which will last for almost a month.

You can store the curry leaves for a certain time if they are available in plenty. Another way is to dry the leaves and power them using a grinder where a certain percentage of its properties will be lost but will have certain benefits to it. Thereby, you can use curry leaves either as fresh or in a powdered form.