בוטוויניה (מרק קר)

BOTVINYA – raw food soup made from greens and tops

Those who practice a raw food diet know that green smoothies and raw food soup are easy to make. And the healer from Togliatti, Arina Nikitina, at her seminars on HEALTH and STRAVA, usually says that in Rus’, for a long time in the spring, they prepared such a raw food dish – soup from greens (nettle, dill, parsley, onions, garlic, etc.) and tops of beets, carrots, etc. etc. Below is information about the benefits of each type of plant.

Let’s talk a little about the tops. Usually we are used to cutting off vegetable tops and throwing them away, without attaching any importance to them, and in vain. Some types of tops make very delicious dishes, and recipes for infusions and decoctions are used as effective means of treating many ailments.
Our ancestors were well aware of the benefits and taste of vegetable tops: they were widely used in traditional Russian cooking – soups and borscht were cooked with it, meat and cereal dishes were made, pies were baked, and even desserts and kvass were made.

Carrot and beet tops are the best base for borscht in the traditional Russian spirit; beets were put in okroshka and cold beetroot soup.

What is it about the tops that made them so valued by their ancestors? The composition of vitamins and minerals in the leafy parts of carrots, beets or radishes is even wider than in root vegetables. The tops contain a lot of ascorbic acid, which helps fight blues and strengthen the walls of blood vessels, a lot of folic acid, good for the brain and nervous system, and also high reserves of B vitamins, enough iron, potassium, magnesium and calcium, and iodine.
Beet tops are combined with cucumber, radish, green lettuce, spinach, herbs and nuts, although you can vary the salads to suit your tastes. Beet tops are the basis for filling pies, and the tops can also be prepared for future use – they are dried, fermented, salted, canned with other vegetables and then used in cooking in winter.

Benefits of beet leaves

• Dishes made from beet tops are especially useful for people with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes; they will provide invaluable benefits for anemia, thyroid diseases and other endocrine pathologies.
• For headaches, in the old days they ground a beet leaf into a paste, applied it to the forehead for 15 minutes, and the pain went away.
• Crushed beet leaves are applied to the eyelids for conjunctivitis.
• A decoction of beet leaves helps in the fight against constipation: pour a tablespoon of leaves with boiling water and leave until it cools, drink the entire glass in four doses a day.
• Beetroot helps with long-healing wounds and cracked skin – the juice of the leaves, their pulp and decoction are used for washing wounds and compresses. For diseases and cracks of the feet, foot baths are made with a decoction of the tops.
• Vitamins P and vitamin U also help in the functioning of blood vessels, preventing atherosclerosis, activate metabolism and hematopoiesis, help in the treatment of peptic ulcers, gastritis and liver diseases.

Radish tops

Radishes are rich in vitamins and microelements, and their tops are not inferior to fruits. It has a special aroma and taste, it can be added to vegetable salads as greens, in addition, it can be put in cabbage soup or borscht, or stewed with meat.

Radish tops have a medicinal effect and are used in the treatment of fungal infections of the foot. The tops are dried and ground into powder, which is sprinkled on the feet and the area between the toes. The procedures are repeated until complete healing. The treatment is very effective.

Carrot tops

Carrot tops are no less useful than beet tops. It is added to soups, salads and casseroles, fish soup is cooked with it, a marinade is made for canning vegetables and even tea is drunk. Our great-grandmothers rinsed their hair with a decoction of carrot tops for active growth and strengthening.

Fresh carrot tops are bitter, and to remove the bitterness, you need to pour boiling water over the tops for 15 minutes or simply pour boiling water over them.

Carrot tops have long been used as a medicinal product:

• Healing tea for hemorrhoids is brewed from it – pour 1 teaspoon of tops (dried in a dark place) with a glass of boiling water and infuse, drink a glass of medicinal infusion in several doses throughout the day. The average course of treatment is about two months.
• Carrot tops are also useful for cystitis – drink a pure infusion of carrot tops or mix it in equal proportions with an infusion of parsley.
• An infusion of carrot tops is used for fibroids and bleeding.
• To remove stones and sand from the bladder, after a bath, place a compress made of cloth soaked in a decoction of carrot tops and seeds on the lower abdomen. And for polyarthritis, onion juice and grated carrots were added to them.
• Lotions with a decoction of carrot tops are made for skin problems – dermatitis, psoriasis, allergies.