Freshwise Arugula

Arugula looks like a kind of lettuce, but it is a cruciferous vegetable in the same family as broccoli and cauliflower. Like its cousins, it has many of the same potent health benefits. Arugula is low in calories and high in vitamins A and C. A 1/2 cup serving is only two calories.

History
In Roman times Arugula was grown for both it's leaves and the seed. The seed was used for flavoring oils. On another interesting note, Arugula seed has been used as an ingredient in aphrodisiac concoctions dating back to the first century, AD. (Cambridge World History of Food). Part of a typical Roman meal was to offer a salad of greens, frequently Arugula, romaine, chicory, mallow and lavender and seasoned with a cheese sauce.

Benefits
rugula is rich in phytonutrients, which may reduce the risk of several kinds of cancer, including breast, stomach and colon. It also contains small but helpful quantities of other compounds: One cup delivers 5 percent of the RDA for vitamin C and 3 percent of the RDA for calcium.