MILK THISTLE

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has a lot of other common names: blessed milkthistle, Marian thistle, Mary thistle, Saint Mary's thistle, Mediterranean milk thistle, variegated thistle and Scotch thistle. This kind of thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins.

All parts of Milk thistle are edible and used in dietary nutrition. The roots of the plant can be eaten raw, as well as boiled or fried. Young shoots and leaves are recommended to be soaked overnight to remove bitterness, and then added to salads or boiled as spinach dishes. The flowers can be eaten as an artichoke or dried, crushed and added to food as a seasoning. In pharmacies, you can buy powder from the fruits of the plant, which can be added to porridge, salad, sandwiches, cocktails, or simply consumed as a powder. The plant can be brewed like tea. For prophylactic purposes, as a rule, crushed roots or plant seeds are used.

The main active ingredient in Milk thistle is flavonolignans and the flavonoid taxifolin.

Milk thistle has a huge amount of various macro- and microelements, vitamins A, E, F, K and B vitamins.