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greek oregano

Botanical name: Origanum vulgare

Family: Lamiaceae

Oregano or Origanum is a derivation from the Greek ὀρίγανον (origanon), which simply referred to "an acrid herb". The etymology of the Greek term is often given as oros ὄρος "mountain" + the verb ganousthai γανοῦσθαι "delight in".

Plant Description

Greek oregano is known as the best. It has small, hardy, dark, compact, thick, silvery-haired leaves, usually with purple undersides. It has excellent reputation for flavor and pungency, as well as medicinal uses.

Constituents

Among the chemical compounds contributing not only to the flavour are carvacrol, thymol, limonene, pinene, ocimene, and caryophyllene.

THERAPEUTIC ACTIONS & USES IN OUR DAYS

Oregano is one of the plants with the highest content of vitamin C. Its use is internal and external.

Inthernal use : Inhalations with oregano help in chest diseases while oregano drinks soothe coughs and tooth pain, help in rheumatism pain, in bowel disorders and abdominal pains, -as an emmenagogue to painful menses or menopause. Oregano tea helps hypertension and atherosclerosis. Oregano is also used for gargles against inflammations and ulcers of the mouth and tonsils.

External use : It helps disinfection of wounds. Decoction of oregano in water bath soothes and tones ( boil 100g . Oregano in 1 liter of water).

MODERN STUDIES and PUBLICATIONS

Oregano and oregano oil In "The Chemistry in our plate", Anastasios Varvoglis, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Thessaloniki, refers starting from caffeic acid, (which is a powerful antioxidant), that although its name tends to entice us to believe otherwise, caffeic acid there is not only in coffee but also in other foods such as pears, olives, grapes, thyme, basil and oregano.

As it is referred especially oregano contains a derivative of the rosmariniko acid, a powerful antioxidant in nature. In one of the experiments it was found to suppress 95% of production of the fungus Aspergillus Flavus, carcinogenic metabolites of aflatoxins.

Today it is considered one of the most remarkable anticancer substances found in food, with a strong inhibition of hepatic metastasis.

It has been shown in laboratory tests that the "germs" that cause common diseases not withstand the test. Even resistant antibiotic strains of mutant bacteria have no defense against oregano -pneumonia, bronchitis, flu, cold, cough, food poisoning, and many other.