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Article: Basil, mint among most popular herbs.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- June 6, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Basil, an age-old favorite culinary herb, for centuries was the object of many of the oddest beliefs in the plant world.
Although sacred in the ancient Hindu religion, basil was thought by the Greeks in 200 B.C. to cause blindness, as well as damage to the brain and stomach.
According to other ancient beliefs, eating it led to insects on the skin and worms in the stomach; a pinch of basil powder under a rock formed snakes, but a sprig of it, together with a swallow's feather, eased the pain of childbirth if held in the mother's hand.
Even as late as 1600, garden writers viewed basil with suspicion, fearing that the smell alone, as one herbal book put ...