I’ve just discovered that parsley - fresh and dried - is quite a good source of iron. Steeping 100gms of fresh parsley in a teapot of boiled and slightly cooled water for at least 10 mins and drinking it over the course of the day will provide 6mgs of iron. Apparently that’s about 44% of our RDI
Perhaps dried and tea bags aren’t quite as rich in it. Not sure
Please do correct if any of the above is inaccurate
What a find - thank you for posting Noelnoel
I hope it’s correct Margo because it IS a find for those who can’t seem to manage the required amount from eating the correct foods
It seems too good to be true. Let’s wait to see what the knowledgeables say but it might be a way of helping to maintain good levels if anyone has had to take supplements to increase their iron levels. Also, perhaps safer too because some just supplement with iron without realising the potential dangers of doing so. This is something I learnt on this forum. It’s such a wealth of good sense thanks to the people who run it and others too
Erm.. what's wrong with just supplementing with Iron? Is it ok with vit c?
Nothing, as long as you’ve had a full iron panel test and have had it confirmed that you do actually need to supplement with it. Ask hellvella, s/he has a lot of information on it
Oh cool. I was thinking I might be not combining it right or something. My doctor says my iron levels are fine, but all my doctors have said that even when it is scraping the bottom of the range, so I supplement regardless as I have very heavy periods and have done all my life!
Have you had an iron panel test? May I encourage you to read hellvella’a posts on the subject?
Didn’t know. Sounds very good .
I have nettle tea and make a soup. Will now add parsley
If it’s correct and we go down that route, be sure to chop it to release more of the nutrients and if you don’t mind it, a teaspoon of good apple cider vinegar in the pot will also help draw out the nutrients. I learnt that on my quest to make a good quality bone broth
healthline.com/nutrition/pa...
"SUMMARY
Parsley contains several important nutrients, such as vitamins A, K, and C. It’s also a good source of the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium."
Two tablespoons (8 grams) of parsley provide :
Calories: 2
Vitamin A: 12% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
Vitamin C: 16% of the RDI
Vitamin K: 154% of the RDI
Parsley is low in calories yet rich in important nutrients, such as vitamins A, K, and C.
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that plays a key role in your immunity and eye health. Plus, it’s important for your skin and may improve skin conditions, such as acne (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).
Parsley is also a great source of vitamin K, a nutrient that supports bone and heart health. In fact, just two tablespoons (8 grams) of parsley deliver more vitamin K than you need in a day.
Aside from its role in bone and heart health, vitamin K is essential for proper blood clotting, which can help prevent excessive bleeding (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).
Additionally, parsley is packed with vitamin C, a nutrient that improves heart health and is vital to your immune system.
Vitamin C also acts as a powerful antioxidant, protecting your cells from damage caused by unstable molecules called free radicals (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
What’s more, parsley is a good source of the nutrients magnesium, potassium, folate, iron, and calcium."
Don't know if i fancy 'parsley tea' but my o level food and nutrition teacher made us all promise to eat a bit with something everyday .
Grow your own, on the windowsill.
Make your own compost from kitchen scraps, use some of this mixed with peat free compost to grow your parsley in and clever microbes we don't understand will recycle the potassium from your banana peel and put it in your parsley 
unfortunately , making tea would loose the vit c due to the heat.
Hence cooling the water first to minimise vit c loss
Appologies didn't read the recipe as i'm strictly a 'normali-tea with milk and sugar' kind of person.
Me too!
Thank you tattyboogle, informative. The vitamin c content will also aid absorption. Goodness, what’s not to like
Yes , turns out ( as usual ) that mother nature knows what she's doing
I’m inspired
A little bit of inspiration goes a long way so that’s great mostew. Long may it last
For such a health-giving herb, parsley has long been marred by strange superstitions and devilish ways. Apparently, one of the reasons it is notoriously slow to germinate (and it can take over a month) is because the seed has to visit the devil several times first, often forgetting to come back from the underworld. In reality, this is just the vagaries of being in the Apiaceae family: it is notorious for having seed with underdeveloped embryos, which results in patchy germination.
!!!!!! !!!!!
Large amounts of parsley can affect the processing by our bodies of various medicines:
The effect of celery and parsley juices on pharmacodynamic activity of drugs involving cytochrome P450 in their metabolism
V Jakovljevic 1 , A Raskovic, M Popovic, J Sabo
PMID: 12365194 DOI: 10.1007/BF03190450
Abstract
Celery (Apium graveolens) and parsley (Petroselinum sativum), plants used worldwide in human nutrition, are the natural sources of methoxsalen. In this study we investigated the effect of mice pretreatment with juices of this plants on the hypnotic action of pentobarbital and analgesic action of paracetamol and aminopyrine, the drugs involving cytochrome P450 superfamily in their metabolism. In mice pretreated with celery and parsley juices a prolonged action of pentobarbital with respect to control was observed, statistical significance being attained only with parsley-pretreated animals. Both pretreatments increased and prolonged the analgesic action of aminopyrine and paracetamol, pretreatment with parsley being again more effective. Celery and parsley juices given to animals two hours before their decapitation caused a significant decrease of cytochrome P450 in the liver homogenate as compared to control.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/123...
Thank you hellvella. If I’m understanding the article correctly, it could be a good thing in that, smaller doses of those drugs could be used. Probably an over-simplification on my part
But, if you were taking a standard two-tablets four times a day of paracetamol (maximum dose), you could end up with excessively high paracetamol levels. The safety of many medicines is determined assuming some sort of rate at which the substance is excreted or broken down. If that is low, the ordinary instructions might be over-optimistic.
Does this roughly translate as ... if you feed mice that are junkies enough parsley juice they will get more 'off their head' than without it , and they also won't mind so much if you just give them paracetamol before saying "off with their heads" ?
#letsbenicetomice
Row, row, row the boat.
Softly on the floor.
Flippety, floppety, slippily, sloppily.
Who could ask for more
Bing, bang, bong and bump.
Heavily down the stairs.
Bingeldy, bangeldy, bongaldy, bumpety.
Down the apples and pairs.
Row, row, home the goat.
Sticky with orange squash.
Lickily, stickily, gluely, gummily.
What a lot of bosh!
lol 
is this the result of a parsley juice and benzo cocktail trial ?
Here's a video!
ah ha ... i knew it was in my memory box from somewhere in the misty past. "mice not sing .. mice not work! "
Thankyou , you've cheered up my morning ... got to go to the dentist 
Loved it, thanks Helvella. It has brought the kid out in me. 🥰
The pair of you have lost me but glad it’s cheered you up
NoelNoel try it as a smoothie with tomatoes spinach blueberries,a clove of garlic and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.I throw in a right tangy orange now.Nice!? Well???? I think so
I’m a keen juicer/ smoothie maker so may give this a try!
Buddy you need to be keen.Sometimes just even even the look and the cringe is enough to send you back to takeaways lol
I’m a hardy soul & will try most things considered healthy....unfortunately husband & teenage kids will not be persuaded to try! 🤣
I often make a smoothie that comprises of
6 garlic cloves
Coriander
Very large knob of ginger
Good glug of olive oil
Juice of three lemons
2L spring water
Several celery sticks
Whole cucumber
It clears me out gently and also tackles candida (probably wipes out good flora too but I make kefir) and I quite like it. Can only make it when husband’s away or sleep in another bedroom because as you can imagine, it leaves the breath a little unpleasant. And no, he won’t touch it but my grown up children are game
I
Thankyou for this- it sounds good for you & I will try it! 👍
Really?!! I thought the garlic might put you off. Let me know how you get on because it IS good for you. Adapt it to your taste though. I always add loads of lemon juice because I love tart things and it also helps break down the oiliness
I’ve got Rosemary Ferguson’s juicing book & there are some things in there that have made me wince- especially cabbage & turmeric ones!
I will Jacobite33, I’m into smoothies too
I will Jacobite33
Perhaps this could be another form of iron for vegetarians, but non-haem has a lower absorption rate compared to haem iron. It also needs cofactors like Vitamin C for absorption. There won’t be much Vitamin C left if you’re heating parsley. You’re better off eating something like liver.
Yes I know and I do. All types of iron help with the production of red cells and this is another natural source that can be easily incorporated into one’s diet. The loss of vitamin c is minimised by allowing the water to cool and in any case many of us already supplement with vitamin c
I make tea from fresh stinging nettles good for iron x
Can anybody recommend brand of transdermal iron supplement please?
Iron deficiency & iron supplementing
How much iron is enough???
Radio 4 Inside Science - about iron supplementation
