The delicious and vibrant taste and wonderful healing properties of parsley are often ignored in its popular role as a table garnish. Highly nutritious, parsley can be found year round in your local supermarket.

Parsley is the world's most popular herb. It derives its name from the Greek word meaning "rock celery" (parsley is a relative to celery). It is a biennial plant that will return to the garden year after year once it is established.

This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Parsley provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Parsley can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Parsley, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

• Health Benefits
• Description
• History
• How to Select and Store
• Tips for Preparing and Cooking
• How to Enjoy
• Nutritional Profile
• References

Health Benefits

A sprig of parsley can provide much more than a decoration on your plate. Parsley contains two types of unusual components that provide unique health benefits. The first type is volatile oil components—including myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and alpha-thujene. The second type is flavonoids—including apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and luteolin.

Promote Optimal Health

Parsley's volatile oils—particularly myristicin—have been shown to inhibit tumor formation in animal studies, and particularly, tumor formation in the lungs. Myristicin has also been shown to activate the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, which helps attach the molecule glutathione to oxidized molecules that would otherwise do damage in the body. The activity of parsley's volatile oils qualifies it as a "chemoprotective" food, and in particular, a food that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens (like the benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke and charcoal grill smoke).

A Rich Source of Anti-Oxidant Nutrients

The flavonoids in parsley—especially luteolin—have been shown to function as antioxidants that combine with highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules (called oxygen radicals) and help prevent oxygen-based damage to cells. In addition, extracts from parsley have been used in animal studies to help increase the antioxidant capacity of the blood.

In addition to its volatile oils and flavonoids, parsley is an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of vitamin A (notably through its concentration of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid, beta-carotene). Vitamin C has many different functions. It is the body's primary water-soluble antioxidant, rendering harmless otherwise dangerous free radicals in all water-soluble areas of the body. High levels of free radicals contribute to the development and progression of a wide variety of diseases, including atherosclerosis, colon cancer, diabetes, and asthma. This may explain why people who consume healthy amounts of vitamin C-containing foods have reduced risks for all these conditions. Vitamin C is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, which explains its usefulness in conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. And since vitamin C is needed for the healthy function of the immune system, it can also be helpful for preventing recurrent ear infections or colds.

Beta-carotene, another important antioxidant, works in the fat-soluble areas of the body. Diets with beta-carotene-rich foods are also associated with a reduced risk for the development and progression of conditions like atherosclerosis, diabetes, and colon cancer. Like vitamin C, beta-carotene may also be helpful in reducing the severity of asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. And beta-carotene is converted by the body to vitamin A, a nutrient so important to a strong immune system that its nickname is the "anti-infective vitamin."

Parsley for a Healthy Heart

Parsley is a good source of folic acid, one of the most important B vitamins. While it plays numerous roles in the body, one of its most critical roles in relation to cardiovascular health is its necessary participation in the process through which the body converts homocysteine into benign molecules. Homocysteine is a potentially dangerous molecule that, at high levels, can directly damage blood vessels, and high levels of homocysteine are associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people with atherosclerosis or diabetic heart disease. Enjoying foods rich in folic acid, like parsley, is an especially good idea for individuals who either have, or wish to prevent, these diseases. Folic acid is also a critical nutrient for proper cell division and is therefore vitally important for cancer-prevention in two areas of the body that contain rapidly dividing cells—the colon, and in women, the cervix.

So, next time parsley appears on your plate as a garnish, recognize its true worth and partake of its abilities to improve your health. As an added bonus, you'll also enjoy parsley's legendary ability to cleanse your palate and your breath at the end of your meal.

Description

While parsley is a wonderfully nutritious and healing food, it is often under-appreciated. Most people do not realize that this vegetable has more uses than just being a decorative garnish that accompanies restaurant meals. They do not know that parsley is actually a storehouse of nutrients and that it features a delicious green and vibrant taste.

The two most popular types of parsley are curly parsley and Italian flat leaf parsley. The Italian variety has a more fragrant and less bitter taste than the curly variety. There is also another type of parsley known as turnip-rooted (or Hamburg) that is cultivated for its roots, which resemble salsify and burdock. Parsley belongs to the Umbelliferae family of plants, and its Latin name is Petroselinum crispum.

History

Parsley is native to the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe. While it has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years, parsley was used medicinally prior to being consumed as a food. The ancient Greeks held parsley to be sacred, using it to not only adorn victors of athletic contests, but also for decorating the tombs of the deceased. The practice of using parsley as a garnish actually has a long history that can be traced back to the civilization of the ancient Romans.

While it is uncertain when parsley began to be consumed as a seasoning, it seems to be sometime in the Middle Ages in Europe. Some historians credit Charlemagne with its popularization since he had it grown on his estates.

In some countries, the curly leaf variety is more popular. This may have its roots in the ancient preference for this type since people were oftentimes reticent to consume the flat leaf variety because it resembled fool's parsley, a poisonous weed.

Turnip-rooted (or Hamburg) parsley, a relatively new species, having only been developed within the past two hundred years, has only recently begun gaining popularity.

How to Select and Store

Whenever possible, choose fresh parsley over the dried form of the herb since it is superior in flavor. Choose fresh parsley that is deep green in color and looks fresh and crisp. Avoid bunches that have leaves that are wilted or yellow as this indicates that they are either overmature or damaged. Just like with other dried herbs, if you choose to purchase dried parsley flakes, try to select organically grown parsley since this will give you more assurance that the herbs have not been irradiated.

Fresh parsley should be kept in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. If the parsley is slightly wilted, either sprinkle it lightly with some water or wash it without completely drying it before storing in the refrigerator.

If you have excess flat leaf parsley, you can easily dry it by laying it out in a single layer on a clean kitchen cloth. Once dried, it should be kept in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dark and dry place. Curly leaf parsley is best preserved by freezing, as opposed to drying. Although it will retain most of its flavor, it has a tendency to lose its crispness, so it is best used in recipes without first thawing.

Tips for Preparing and Cooking

Tips for Preparing Parsley

Fresh parsley should be washed right before using since it is highly fragile. The best way to clean it is just like you would spinach. Place it in a bowl of cold water and swish it around with your hands. This will allow any sand or dirt to dislodge. Remove the leaves from the water, empty the bowl, refill it with clean water and repeat this process until no dirt remains in the water.

Since it has a stronger flavor than the curly variety, Italian flat leaf parsley holds up better to cooking and therefore is usually the type preferred for hot dishes. It should be added towards the end of the cooking process so that it can best retain its taste, color and nutritional value.

If you are making a light colored sauce, use the stems from this variety as opposed to the leaves, so the sauce will take on the flavor of parsley but will not be imparted with its green color.

How to Enjoy

A Few Quick Serving Ideas

• Combine chopped parsley with bulgur wheat, chopped green onions (scallions), mint leaves, lemon juice and olive oil to make the Middle Eastern classic dish, tabouli.
• Add parsley to pesto sauce to add more texture to its green color.
• Combine chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest, and use it as a rub for chicken, lamb and beef.
• Use parsley in soups and tomato sauces.
• Serve a colorful salad of fennel, orange, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and parsley leaves.
• Chopped parsley can be sprinkled on a host of different recipes, including salads, vegetable sautés and grilled fish.

For some of our favorite recipes, click Recipes.

Nutritional Profile

Parsley is an excellent of vitamin K and vitamin C as well as a good source of vitamin A, folate and iron. Parsley's volatile oil components include myristicin, limonene, eugenol and alpha-thujene. Its flavonoids include apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol and luteolin.

Introduction to Food Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

In-Depth Nutritional Profile

In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, here is an in-depth nutritional profile for Parsley. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.

Parsley, chopped, fresh (Note: "--" indicates data unavailable)
0.50 cup (30.40 g)	GI: very low
BASIC MACRONUTRIENTS AND CALORIES
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Protein	0.90 g	2
Carbohydrates	1.92 g	1
Fat - total	0.24 g	0
Dietary Fiber	1.00 g	4
Calories	10.94	1
MACRONUTRIENT AND CALORIE DETAIL
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Carbohydrate:
Starch	-- g
Total Sugars	0.26 g
Monosaccharides	-- g
Fructose	-- g
Glucose	-- g
Galactose	-- g
Disaccharides	-- g
Lactose	-- g
Maltose	-- g
Sucrose	-- g
Soluble Fiber	-- g
Insoluble Fiber	-- g
Other Carbohydrates	0.66 g
Fat:
Monounsaturated Fat	0.09 g
Polyunsaturated Fat	0.04 g
Saturated Fat	0.04 g
Trans Fat	0.00 g
Calories from Fat	2.16
Calories from Saturated Fat	0.36
Calories from Trans Fat	0.00
Cholesterol	0.00 mg
Water	26.66 g
MICRONUTRIENTS
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Vitamins
Water-Soluble Vitamins
B-Complex Vitamins
Vitamin B1	0.03 mg	3
Vitamin B2	0.03 mg	2
Vitamin B3	0.40 mg	3
Vitamin B3 (Niacin Equivalents)	0.63 mg
Vitamin B6	0.03 mg	2
Vitamin B12	0.00 mcg	0
Biotin	-- mcg	--
Choline	3.89 mg	1
Folate	46.21 mcg	12
Folate (DFE)	46.21 mcg
Folate (food)	46.21 mcg
Pantothenic Acid	0.12 mg	2
Vitamin C	40.43 mg	54
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A (Retinoids and Carotenoids)
Vitamin A International Units (IU)	2560.89 IU
Vitamin A mcg Retinol Activity Equivalents (RAE)	128.04 mcg (RAE)	14
Vitamin A mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)	256.09 mcg (RE)
Retinol mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)	0.00 mcg (RE)
Carotenoid mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)	256.09 mcg (RE)
Alpha-Carotene	0.00 mcg
Beta-Carotene	1536.41 mcg
Beta-Carotene Equivalents	1536.41 mcg
Cryptoxanthin	0.00 mcg
Lutein and Zeaxanthin	1690.54 mcg
Lycopene	0.00 mcg
Vitamin D
Vitamin D International Units (IU)	0.00 IU	0
Vitamin D mcg	0.00 mcg
Vitamin E
Vitamin E mg Alpha-Tocopherol Equivalents (ATE)	0.23 mg (ATE)	2
Vitamin E International Units (IU)	0.34 IU
Vitamin E mg	0.23 mg
Vitamin K	498.56 mcg	554
Minerals
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Boron	-- mcg
Calcium	41.95 mg	4
Chloride	-- mg
Chromium	-- mcg	--
Copper	0.05 mg	6
Fluoride	-- mg	--
Iodine	-- mcg	--
Iron	1.88 mg	10
Magnesium	15.20 mg	4
Manganese	0.05 mg	2
Molybdenum	-- mcg	--
Phosphorus	17.63 mg	3
Potassium	168.42 mg	4
Selenium	0.03 mcg	0
Sodium	17.02 mg	1
Zinc	0.33 mg	3
INDIVIDUAL FATTY ACIDS
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Omega-3 Fatty Acids	0.00 g	0
Omega-6 Fatty Acids	0.03 g
Monounsaturated Fats
14:1 Myristoleic	0.00 g
15:1 Pentadecenoic	0.00 g
16:1 Palmitol	0.00 g
17:1 Heptadecenoic	0.00 g
18:1 Oleic	0.09 g
20:1 Eicosenoic	0.00 g
22:1 Erucic	0.00 g
24:1 Nervonic	0.00 g
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
18:2 Linoleic	0.03 g
18:2 Conjugated Linoleic (CLA)	-- g
18:3 Linolenic	0.00 g
18:4 Stearidonic	-- g
20:3 Eicosatrienoic	-- g
20:4 Arachidonic	-- g
20:5 Eicosapentaenoic (EPA)	-- g
22:5 Docosapentaenoic (DPA)	-- g
22:6 Docosahexaenoic (DHA)	-- g
Saturated Fatty Acids
4:0 Butyric	-- g
6:0 Caproic	-- g
8:0 Caprylic	-- g
10:0 Capric	-- g
12:0 Lauric	-- g
14:0 Myristic	0.00 g
15:0 Pentadecanoic	-- g
16:0 Palmitic	0.03 g
17:0 Margaric	-- g
18:0 Stearic	0.01 g
20:0 Arachidic	-- g
22:0 Behenate	-- g
24:0 Lignoceric	-- g
INDIVIDUAL AMINO ACIDS
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Alanine	0.06 g
Arginine	0.04 g
Aspartic Acid	0.09 g
Cysteine	0.00 g
Glutamic Acid	0.08 g
Glycine	0.04 g
Histidine	0.02 g
Isoleucine	0.04 g
Leucine	0.06 g
Lysine	0.06 g
Methionine	0.01 g
Phenylalanine	0.04 g
Proline	0.06 g
Serine	0.04 g
Threonine	0.04 g
Tryptophan	0.01 g
Tyrosine	0.02 g
Valine	0.05 g
OTHER COMPONENTS
nutrient	amount	DRI/DV (%)
Ash	0.67 g
Organic Acids (Total)	-- g
Acetic Acid	-- g
Citric Acid	-- g
Lactic Acid	-- g
Malic Acid	-- g
Taurine	-- g
Sugar Alcohols (Total)	-- g
Glycerol	-- g
Inositol	-- g
Mannitol	-- g
Sorbitol	-- g
Xylitol	-- g
Artificial Sweeteners (Total)	-- mg
Aspartame	-- mg
Saccharin	-- mg
Alcohol	0.00 g
Caffeine	0.00 mg
Note: The nutrient profiles provided in this website are derived from The Food Processor, Version 10.12.0, ESHA Research, Salem, Oregon, USA. Among the 50,000+ food items in the master database and 163 nutritional components per item, specific nutrient values were frequently missing from any particular food item. We chose the designation "--" to represent those nutrients for which no value was included in this version of the database.

References

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• Pattison DJ, Silman AJ, Goodson NJ, Lunt M, Bunn D, Luben R, Welch A, Bingham S, Khaw KT, Day N, Symmons DP. Vitamin C and the risk of developing inflammatory polyarthritis: prospective nested case-control study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2004 Jul;63(7):843-7. 2004. PMID:15194581.
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