Properties and uses of the white Genepì

Properties and uses of the white Genepì

The white Genepì, also known as Genepì female (Artemisia umbelliformis Lam., 1783) is a small herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. It is a perennial herbaceous species, 5-15 cm tall, silvery-woolly, with simple stems and creeping branches, erect or ascending with the stem base partially lignified. The leaves are 2-3 pennatosette, petiolate, silvery white, silky with almost linear segments. The basal leaves, briefly petiolate, have a pennatosetta lamina, with very thin lacinias. The flower heads, ovoid or globose, are made up of 10-15 golden-yellow flowers. The lower flower heads have elongated peduncles. Its Habitat is that characteristic of the alpine regions where it grows clinging among the boulders in small tufts at heights between 1500 and 3000 meters and is a cultivated species. In this sheet we see what are the properties and uses of the white Genepì.
The white Genepì is a rare, balsamic and aromatic plant, to which various therapeutic properties and important pharmaceutical properties are attributed: in fact, flowering plants are used for medicinal purposes and harvested at the beginning of flowering and dried in a shady and ventilated place.

You can also use the roots of this plant, collecting them during the summer. It has tonic and antispasmodic properties and, moreover, it can be used to combat respiratory diseases.
The white Genepì is also used for food purposes; the properties of genepì and similar varieties focus on the bitter principles contained in them which make them excellent for making aperitifs and digestives. It is in fact sought for the production of Genepì liqueur, while the leaves are used for the preparation of a tea and are sometimes also used as a condiment.
In addition the mountaineers use the many species of genepì macerating them in the grappa obtaining a stomachino liqueur that seems to have the ability to cure altitude sickness.
The Artemisia umbelliformis along with Artemisia genipi are the two plants from which flowers are obtained, by infusion, the ancient and suggestive liquor, which has now become a real symbol and bears the name of the plants from which it is born: the Genepi . Furthermore, since 1928 these plants have been declared protected and are subject to strict harvesting restrictions.
Genepi is a liqueur, which has some digestive properties, is straw-colored, with a tendency to pale green or colorless, depending on the different methodology of preparation. Recall that in September 2014 this liqueur was recognized as a Geographical Indication (I.G.) under the name “Genepì delle Alpi” or “Genepi des Alpes”. A denomination that is also the recognition of a long history and a tradition. Because the Genepi is an ancient liqueur, whose birth is lost in the centuries when it was distilled between the Alpine valleys and whose recipe and tradition has been handed down orally from one generation to another.