Fenugreek

Read about Fenugreek in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum, literally Greek hay). An annual legume indigenous to western Asia, cultivated for human food, forage, and for medicinal qualities; widely naturalized in Mediterranean countries; little grown in America. Fenugreek is an erect little-branched plant with 3- foliolate leaves. The seeds are 1 or 2 lines long, brownish yellow and marked with an oblique furrow half their length. They emit a peculiar odor, and contain starch, mucilage, a bitter extractive, a yellow coloring matter, and 6 per cent of fixed and volatile oils. As human food they are used in Egypt, mixed with wheat flour, to make bread; in India, with other condiments, to make curry powder; in Greece, either boiled or raw, as an addition to honey; in many oriental countries, to give plumpness to the female human form. The plant is used as an esculent in Hindostan; as an early fodder in Egypt, Algiers, France, and other countries bordering the Mediterranean. Formerly the seed was valued in medicine; now it is employed only in the preparation of emollient cataplasms, enemata, ointments and plasters, never internally. In veterinary practice it is still esteemed for poultices, condition powders, as a vehicle for drugs, and to diminish the nauseating and griping effects of purgatives. It is commonly used by hostlers to produce glossy coats upon their horses and to give a temporary fire and vigor; by stockmen to excite thirst and digestion in fattening animals; by manufacturers of patent stock foods as a flavoring ingredient. Fenugreek does not succeed on clays, sands, wet or sour soils. It yields most seed upon well-drained loams of medium texture and of moderate fertility; most fodder upon rich lands. For seed-production, potash and phosphoric acid should be applied; for forage, nitrogenous manures. Deep plowing and thorough harrowing are essential. Ten to twenty pounds of seed should be used broadcast, or seven to ten pounds in drills 18 inches apart. Thinning when the plants are 2 or 3 inches tall, and clean culture throughout theseason until blossoming time, are necessary for a seed crop. The crop may be mown, dried andthreshed four or five months after seeding. An average yield should be about 950 pounds an acre. As a green manure, fenugreek is inferior to the clovers, vetches and other popular green manures of this country. It possesses the power of obtaining nitrogen from the air by means of root-tubercles.For description of the plant, see Trigonella. M. G. Kains. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

? Fenugreek
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Trigonella Species: T. foenum-graecum
Binomial name
Trigonella foenum-graecum L.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) belongs to the family Fabaceae. Fenugreek is used both as a herb (the leaves) and as a spice (the seed). It is cultivated worldwide as a semi-arid crop.

The name fenugreek or foenum-graecum is from Latin for "Greek hay". Zohary and Hopf note that it is not yet certain which wild strain of the genus Trigonella gave rise to the domesticated fenugreek but believe it was brought into cultivation in the Near East. Charred fenugreek seeds have been recovered from Tell Halal, Iraq, (radiocarbon dating to 4000 BC) and Bronze Age levels of Lachish, as well as desiccated seeds from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Cato the Elder lists fenugreek with clover and vetch as crops grown to feed cattle (De Agri Cultura, 27).

The rhombic yellow to amber colored fenugreek seed, commonly called Methi, is frequently used in the preparation of pickles, curry powders and pastes, and is often encountered in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. The young leaves and sprouts of fenugreek are eaten as greens, and the fresh or dried leaves are used to flavor other dishes. The dried leaves (called kasuri methi) have a bitter taste and a strong characteristic smell.

In India, fenugreek seeds are mixed with yogurt and used as a conditioner for hair. It is also one of the ingredients in the making of khakhra, a type of bread. It is used in injera/taita, a type of bread unique to Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. The word for fenugreek in Amharic is abesh, and the seed is reportedly also often used in Ethiopia as a natural herbal medicine in the treatment of diabetes. It is also sometimes used as an ingredient in the production of clarified butter (Amharic: qibé, Ethiopian and Eritrean Tigrinya: tesme), which is similar to Indian ghee. In Turkey, fenugreek gives its name, çemen, to a hot paste used in pastirma. In Yemen it is the main condiment and an ingredient added to the national dish called saltah. The Arabic word hulba for the seed resembles its Mandarin Chinese counterpart hu lu ba. Fenugreek, or Şambélilé in Persian, is also one of four herbs used for the Iranian recipe Ghormeh Sabzi.

In Egypt, fenugreek seeds are prepared as tea.

Fenugreek seeds are a rich source of the polysaccharide galactomannan. They are also a source of saponins such as diosgenin, yamogenin, gitogenin, tigogenin, and neotigogens. Other bioactive constituents of fenugreek include mucilage, volatile oils, and alkaloids such as choline and trigonelline.

A side effect of consuming even small amounts of fenugreek (even as just an infusion in water) is a maple syrup or curry smell in the eater's sweat and urine, which is caused by the potent aroma compound sotolone. Fenugreek is frequently used in the production of flavoring for artificial syrups. The taste of toasted fenugreek is additionally based on substituted pyrazines, as is cumin. By itself, it has a somewhat bitter taste.

Dried fenugreek seed

Fenugreek is mainly used as digestive aid. Fenugreek seed is widely used as a galactagogue (milk producing agent) by nursing mothers to increase inadequate breast milk supply. It can be found in capsule form in many health food stores.

Supplements of fenugreek seeds were shown to lower serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein in human patients and experimental models of hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia (Basch et al., 2003). Several human intervention trials demonstrated that the antidiabetic effects of fenugreek seeds ameliorate most metabolic symptoms associated with type-1 and type-2 diabetes in both humans and relevant animal models (Basch et al., 2003; Srinivas, 2005). Fenugreek is currently available commercially in encapsulated forms and is being prescribed as dietary supplements for the control of hypercholesterolemia and diabetes by practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine.

In recent research, fenugreek seeds were shown to protect against experimental cancers of the breast (Amin et al., 2005) and colon (Raju et al., 2006). The hepatoprotective properties of fenugreek seeds have also been reported in experimental models (Raju and Bird, 2006; Kaviarasan et al., 2006; Thirunavukarrasu et al., 2003).

Fenugreek seeds close-up

External links

• Gernot Katzer's spice dictionary - Fenugreek
• Ghormeh Sabzi, an Iranian recipe using fenugreek leaves
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products
• Encyclopedia of Spices

References

• A. Amin et al. (2005). "Chemopreventive activities of Trigonella foenum graecum (Fenugreek) against breast cancer". Cell Biol Int 29 (8): 687-94. 
• E. Basch et al. (2003). "Therapeutic applications of fenugreek". Altern Med Rev 8 (1): 20-27. 
• S. Kaviarasan et al. (2006). "Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) seed extract prevents ethanol-induced toxicity and apoptosis in Chang liver cells". Alcohol Alcohol 41 (3): 267-273. 
• J. Raju and R.P. Bird et al. (2006). "Alleviation of hepatic steatosis accompanied by modulation of plasma and liver TNF-alpha levels by Trigonella foenum graecum (fenugreek) seeds in Zucker obese (fa/fa) rats". International Journal of Obesity 30 (8): 1298-1307. 
• J. Raju et al. (2004). "Diosgenin, a steroid saponin of Trigonella foenum graecum (Fenugreek), inhibits azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci formation in F344 rats and induces apoptosis in HT-29 human colon cancer cells". Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 13 (8): 1392-1398. 
• K. Srinivasan et al. (2005). "Plant foods in the management of diabetes mellitus: spices as beneficial antidiabetic food adjuncts". International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 56 (6): 399-414. 
• V. Thirunavukkarasu et al. (2003). "Protective effect of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) seeds in experimental ethanol toxicity". Phytother Res 17 (7): 737-743.