Parsley is a popular aromatic plant in universal cuisine that, surprisingly, has been named poisonous plant of the year by the Wandsbek Special Botanical Garden in Hamburg, Germany. Those responsible for this garden have been awarding the prize to the toxic plant for 19 years, which last year was for another popular food: the potato. This year 2023 parsley has sneaked ahead of other plants such as oleander such as poppy. But, rest assured, parsley is only really harmful if used incorrectly.

IS PARSLEY HEALTHY OR TOXIC?

Parsley is healthy, among other things, because it provides an extraordinary amount of vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system. It also contains vitamin K, essential for blood clotting and good bone condition, and iron, a trace element essential for oxygen transport.

Fortunately, you don’t have to do without these nutrients in parsley, because eating parsley leaves is completely harmless, according to Wandsbek Garden botanists. You can eat them in any amount you want, even in the delicious tabbouleh salad, where they are the main ingredient.

Parsley was awarded the title of “poisonous plant of the year 2023” for its flowers and seeds. As a biennial plant, parsley forms a rosette in the first year, from which flower stems up to 70 centimeters in height develop in the second year.

The inconspicuous greenish-yellow flowers are arranged in umbels and form seeds. These seeds are unfit for consumption because they contain high concentrations of two toxic compounds, apiol and myristicin.

These substances are found in all parts of the plant, including the leaves, but in these, in such a small proportion that it does not produce negative effects on human health. The World Health Organization has concluded that when you eat parsley you are consuming a dose 10,000 times lower than the toxic one. Of course, the amount is enough to give it its characteristic aroma. However, the dose present in the seeds makes them harmful.

WHAT DAMAGE CAN PARSLEY SEEDS CAUSE?

Apiol can act on the smooth muscle fibers of the bladder, intestines, and uterus. It should be noted that parsley oil was used in the past for abortifacient purposes. For women who used this oil, however, an oil overdose could prove fatal. In large amounts, it can be carcinogenic.

Therefore, consuming parsley leaves in normal amounts at home is not only harmless, but also healthy due to the many beneficial nutrients the plant contains.

If you have a parsley plant at home, you can take care not to eat the leaves from the time it begins to bloom until sometime after the flowers have withered, because in this period the apiol content in the leaves and stems increases.

If you accidentally eat parsley seeds and begin to notice symptoms of poisoning such as cramps, seek medical attention immediately.

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