"Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning"(Exodus 12/22). Named for more than hundred times in the Holy Bible, Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis, Lamiaceae family) has been cultivated in Central Europe for a long time [1], been known to mankind since ages ago. Hyssop is also quite popular for its frequent occurrence among other herbs in the field and for its incredibly pleasant fragrance and beautiful appearance.

As the name officinalis indicates, hyssop has been used in many traditional remedies and as a recurrent herb in some other homeopathic uses. Its essential oil containing species serves not only as spice but in many countries including Hungary, it is used as a folk medicine against certain respiratory diseases [1].  Image: Hyssopus officinalis aristamus by Peganum under Creative Common license (CC BY-SA 2.0).

HYSSOPUS OFFICINALIS 

Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Hyssopus
Common name: Hyssop.

The Sonora desert gets its name from the Sonora state in Mexico, where it covers a considerable extension of land, as well as in parts of southeastern California, southern Arizona and a big part of Baja California. Sonora desert has a extension of more than 100,000 square miles, and if you have had the privilege to be there you would understand that nobody would ever think anything that could effectively grow there could ever be used or serve any purpose, however this is not completely truth, Sonora desert is well-known to host both, rare plants and animal species worth preserving.

As a mirage in the middle of Sonora desert, one of these rare plants, a shrub known by the local O'dham people as Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), pronounced "ho-ho-ba", raised as a new hope for locals that benefited from the commercialization of the oil extracted from the seeds of Jojoba, used in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, dietetic food, animal feeding, lubrication, polishing and bio-diesel fields [8] as well as in toiletry as base for soaps, skin moisturizing oils against skin dryness and dandruff that can be used both, as an base oil for massages and directly into the hair and scalp.

But these are not the only health benefits of Jojoba and Jojoba oil, many more health benefits and some of the scientific research in which those ones have been based are explained in this article about the health benefits of Jojoba.  Image: Simmondsia chinensis by Bri Weldon under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS

Family: Simmondsiaceae
Genus: Simmondsia
Common name: Jojoba, Goatnut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffee berry, and gray box bush [3,13].

Since Bitter melon (Momordica charantia), also known as bitter melon, bitter gourd or bitter squash, Pavakai in Tamil, Karela in Urdu [1] that belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, a family that also includes squashes, melons and gourds, arrived to America some 500 years ago, brought by African slaves without even knowing what cancer was, it has been with us exerting many health benefits and properties every time we used it as part of our diets.

Now, the University of Colorado Cancer Center published a study in the Journal of Carcinogenesis [27] that adds to the already known anti-diabetic, wound healing and anti-cancer properties of Bitter melon a new one, the ability of Bitter melon juice to fight Pancreatic cancer [26], one of the most dangerous and lethal forms of cancer.

The study, performed in mouse models, showed how Bitter melon juice exerted the property to restrict pancreatic cancer cells ability to metabolize glucose, their main source of energy, weakining them and eventually causing their natural death, something that it does naturally. Image: Bitter melon by Leslie Seaton under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

MOMORDICA CHARANTIA

Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Momordica
Common name: Bitter melon, bitter gourd or bitter squash, Pavakai in Tamil, Karela (करेला) in Urdu and Hindi.

I guess by now we all know what muesli is, but maybe what we don't know is where did muesli originate and what are the muesli benefits, we will try to explain that in a moment.

Muesli consists principally in uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed in 1900 by Swiss physician and one of the first nutritional experts of the modern era Maximilian Bircher-Benner (1867-1939), as a natural way to maintain the health balance of his patients in the Zurich sanatorium where he worked. This was the first pillar of something that later on got the medical term of "Ordnungstherapie" and about which we will talk later on.

I have to admit I was a little bit reluctant the first time I tried muesli, back then as a child, the feelings of curiosity and fear were mixed, however curiosity was higher than fear and I ended up trying muesli in the extraordinary peace and tranquility of the garden of a summer rural house in Tuscany, a region in the northwest of Italy where farmhouses and villas are part of the day to day landscape and time has a different meaning. Back then I didn't know that some forty years later I would be writing an article about muesli benefits after getting so addicted to its flavor. Image: Jester House muesli by Jessica Spengler under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

AVENA SATIVA 

Family: Poaceae
Genus: Avena
Common name: Oat

Bihar, an Indian state ranking 12th in terms of geographical size and 3rd in population [1] is breaking the news. As an archaic center of power, learning and culture in ancient India [1] Bihar played a very important role in the development of Indian civilization some hundreds of years ago. Nowadays Bihar is becoming popular for something completely different but with a potential effect in economic growth, a new system of cultivating and growing rice known as System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which origins go back to the 1980's when a French Jesuit Father, Henri de Laulanié started using it in Madagascar [1].

This System of Rice Intensification is based on rising the yields and increasing the potential productivity of existing rice fields by reducing or even completely eliminating the use of artificial chemicals, increasing the space between seedlings from 10 to 25 cm, weeding intensively to free rice roots and some other traditional practices aimed improve productivity.

If you want to know more about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) continue to read this article where we will explain you some examples that will illustrate how much farmers can profit from it. Image: Rice field & Bamboe on an open fire by Mark Veraart under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

ORYZA SATIVA 

Family: Poaceae
Genus: Oryza
Common name: Asian rice.

There is no doubt about it, Sweet potato benefits are known to almost every one of us. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) came to Europe from Central and South America, where they were found by the Spanish. With the botanical name Ipomoea batatas, sweet potatoes arrived later on to other countries as Philippines, China and later one Japan, where they were brought by the Chineese in the 17th century, becoming very popular rapidly.

Ipomoea batatas is cultivated extensively for its nutritious value across many regions of the world, in fact many people consume it as a source of staple food [1,2,3,4]. Ipomoea batatas continues to be of remarkable economic value as the sixth most plentiful food crop in the world [5]. Other reports rank sweet potato seventh among staple crops, with 133 million tons produced annually, 117 of which in a single country, China [10,11], where it is a very popular part of many dishes and culinary preparations.

But Ipomoea batatas is not only popular for its sweet tuberous roots, its leaves or greens are very popular in China, where they are extensively consumed as a vegetable. In other countries as Africa and Asia, Ipomoea batatas leaves or greens are considered a very healthy food and an excellent source of dietary Polyphenols such as anthocyanins and phenolic acids [15], and these are not the only sweet potato benefits, they have many more, would you like to know them? Image: Sweet potatoes roasting on an open fire by Ironchefbalara under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

IPOMOEA BATATAS 

Family: Convolvulaceae 
Genus: Ipomoea
Common name: Sweet potatoes, Sweetpotato (USA), Yam (USA), Kumara (NZ) [19].