Soybeans – Glycine max

Soybeans

“Corn and soybeans,” he says,
“because of the give and take
of nitrogen, that’s why we
switch it out. Everything is
give and take, you know?”

I nod. I know.

By Giaco Furino 

For over 5,000 years the Soybean has been cultivated in the Far East. It has been a dietary staple and was declared one of 5 sacred grains along with along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. During the Chou Dynasty fermentation was discovered which allowed the soybean to be used for something other than a nitrogen fixing product in agriculture. Since the invention of fermentation soy is now used as tempeh, miso, tamari, soy sauce and tofu.

In cooking here in the west soybeans play an important part in the diet of many vegetarians due to its high protein content. Due to the protein level present it can make a good meat substitute with other protein sources added (like cheese or eggs, if a lacto-ovo diet is followed). For people who are lactose intolerant soybeans make a good milk substitute, as well. Dried soybeans are ground to make soy flour that can be found included in Spanish sausages (chorizo, salchichon, and mortadella). Soy flour is also found in doughnuts, and soup stock cubes. The green immature beans is becoming increasingly popular. A dried type is used as a snack, and fresh, frozen, or canned Edamame are finding their way to more and more grocer’s shelves.

In Chinese Traditional Medicine the soybean was used for the proper functioning of the bowels, heart, kidney, liver, and stomach. The root is treated as astringent. Flour of the beans is used in foods prepared for the diabetic in China! The fermented seed is used in the treatment of colds, fevers and headaches, insomnia, irritability and a stuffy sensation in the chest. The flowers used to treat blindness and the white, opacity of the cornea.

According to ancient Japanese mythology soybeans are a gift from the gods. One day Ukemochi met the moon God Tsukiyomi, he asked her for food. She vomited great quantities of food…The moon god was offended and killed her. From her body sprang a wide variety of vegetables…rice, and beans, millet, wheat and soybeans, also a cow and horse!

Yearly in the spring during the Setsubun festival (demon cleaning day) many people throw roasted soybeans outside their homes, often at a person wearing a demon mask, and yell  ”Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (“Oni go out! Blessings come in!”)

Carob – Ceratonia siliqua

Carob or Locust Bean

…I settle into exotic ports

So that I may ply my cacao pod wares for sister carob and patchouli scent

To the peddler who yields cardamom and coriander

 

By Jerry Bradford

The Locust Bean is a tree of Mediterranean origins that is now grown in Mexico and southern California. It was first brought to the New World by Spanish missionaries. In 1856 the Spanish brought 8,000 seedlings and unsprouted seeds to plant in the American south, from Texas to Arizona to California, even a few in Florida.

 

The seed pod of the Locust Bean is known as Carob and was used as a sweetener in Ancient Egypt. The carob pod was used in the hieroglyphs to represent ‘sweet.’ Early mention of the Carob can be found in the Christian Bible and the Jewish Talmud where it has been called a subsistence food. One example is the legend of John the Baptist living on these in the desert; also legend has it that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai also lived on them in the desert.

 

As a food stuff Carob powder and chips are often used in baking, being included in confections such as cakes, cookies, candy, pudding, icing, bread, beverages, shakes, ice cream, muffins, fudge, and brownies. For someone who should not consume caffeine, Carob is often used as a substitute. Although once you taste it, you will not be fooled into thinking it a good substitute, since the flavors differ so greatly. A thickening agent is also obtained from the pods that have been included in processed food production. In Portugal, Spain, and Sicily compotes and liquors are made from Carob. In Germany the roasted beans are sometimes used as a coffee substitute, and in Spain it is mixed with coffee.

 

Under the name of Locust Bean the pods are given to animals as feed. The pods are relished by horses, cattle, pigs, goats, and rabbits. They cannot be fed to chickens, but the flour is often utilized in dog biscuits.

In folk medicine it is a treatment for diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach ache. The powdered beans are mixed with a cup of liquid for this purpose. Mixed with cranberry juice a French physician used it to treat kidney failure successfully. The leaves and bark have been used to treat venereal disease, namely syphilis.

In magic use it was worn or carried to garner protection from evil and secure good health!

Note: Picture above is from Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885, Gera, Germany

[Image in Public Domain]

Peanuts – Arachis hypogaea

Peanuts

“…Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game…”

Jack Norworth, 1908

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_stmo.shtml

 

“Peanuts! Get your fresh Roasted Peanuts here!” Whether you are at the circus or a ball game that is the infamous cry. Mr. Peanut graces bottles of peanuts on the grocer’s shelf. Peanuts have been an integral part of American culture for decades, maybe centuries. In China, where they were first introduced by Portuguese traders somewhere in the 17^th century, they became very popular also. They are often included in Chinese dishes. By 2006 China was the leading producer in the world!

 

The groundnut or goober peas were first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. Today the most frequently found wild strains are in Paraguay and Bolivia. When I was a kid I was told a story of where they came from that has seemed to be proven a myth. The story said that the peanut came to North America with the African people brought here for slavery. It relates that the peanut was seen as an inferior food, so that the slaves could grow it freely. Now this story may be false, or they may have come over with these unfortunate people since the peanut was imported into Africa in post-Columbian times.

 

The peanut is not really a nut, but is really a legume which grows below ground on the root system. The peanut has become a popular ingredient in Peruvian, Chinese, Israeli, and American cooking. They can be roasted, blended with other ingredients to make a sauce; they can be ground into a paste and added to rice, meat and vegetable dishes. They can also be roasted first, and then ground into one of America’s most popular sandwich makings…peanut butter! PB & J sandwiches may be the most popular sandwich in school lunches! Peanuts can be included in candies, cakes, cookies, and other sweets. In the American South a very popular way to eat peanuts is to boil them for several hours until they are soft and moist…different flavorings can be added. The best flavored boiled peanut I have ever eaten was a Cajun spice peanut.

 

Peanut oil has been used in herbal medicine in China to treat gonorrhea, rheumatism, insomnia. In Zimbabwe one of the folk remedies uses the peanut in a treatment for plantar warts. The seeds have been used as a demulcent, pectoral, and peptic.

 

In magic the peanut is believed to attract money. When eaten, while visualizing the end result, the peanut dish just may increase prosperity. Oh, and it can be eaten anyway you like to eat it, anyway at all will work, including the infamous PB & J!

Tamarind – Tamarindus indica

Tamarind pods

The exact origin of this Pea family tree is unknown, but is thought to be eastern Africa. Although India has had it under cultivation for so long that it is often thought of as indigenous there. The specific name is ‘indica’ showing that belief.

 

If you have gas or a sore throat and you happen to be in tropical America look for one of the young boys that will be selling bags of the pods. The fruit is good for relieving intestinal gas; it improves digestion, acts as a mild laxative and soothes sore throats. In the Philippines the leaves are made into a tea for relief of fever, being employed for malaria.

 

For food the tart pulp is used to make chutney, curries, beverages and sauces. The pulp is also an ingredient in making the popular seasoning Worcestershire sauce. It is also part of a favorite Indian dish Tamarind fish, which is a pickled product. The young leaves, flowers, and seedlings are cooked and eaten as greens. In Zimbabwe the leaves are added to soups and flowers added to salads.

 

Because few plants survive living under a Tamarind tree there is an old superstition that it is unwise to sleep under one or to tie your horse beneath one! African tribes in some areas held the tree sacred. And in Burma the tree is believed to be the dwelling of the Rain God.

 

In dying the leaves and flowers are used as mordants. The leaves provide a yellow dye for wool, and turns indigo dyed silk green.

Common Beans – Phaseolus vulgaris

A bean Blossom

“There was an old man of Orleans,
Who was given to eating of beans;
Till once out of sport,
     he swallowed a quart,
That dyspeptic old man of Orleans.”

 

Edward Lear, English artist, writer;

known for his ‘literary nonsense’ & limericks  (1812-1888)

 

The common bean has been cultivated for at least 6000 years, having been developed and grown independently in two separate places…Mesoamerica and the Andes. It does well as a companion plant with strawberries, carrots, cauliflowers, cucumbers, cabbage, beet, leek, and celeriac. They don’t do as well with alliums or fennel. Yet when put with potatoes they are exceedingly happy…the potatoes offer protection from the Mexican bean beetle, while the beans offer defense from the Colorado bean beetle. They have been used in companion planting since antiquity….the Native Americans made the beans one of the three sisters, the other two sisters being corn and squash.

 

The beans are considered good in folk medicine. The pods are mildly diuretic. And the seed is diuretic, hypoglycemic, and hypotensive. Flour made from the dried ground seeds have been used for the treatment of external ulcers. To treat rheumatism, arthritis and problems with the urinary tract a homeopathic remedy made from the entire plant may be used.

 

The immature seedpods are used as a vegetable. They retain a mild flavor if cooked for only a short time, being served while still lightly crisp. In Africa and Indonesia the leaves are used as a tasty and nutritious potherb. The mature seed may be dried for later use. One use of the dried seed is to roast them and use them as a coffee substitute.

 

This species includes the common green bean as well as wax beans, and various dried beans such as red kidney, pinto, and navy.

 

Cherokee succotash: Many today know succotash as using lima beans, but originally it utilized string beans

 

Ingredients:

Corn

String Beans

 

Directions:

Remove corn from the cob

Snap and slice green beans about 1” in length

Cook together until beans are tender

Alfalfa – Medicago sativa

Alfalfa flowers

The field of alfalfa

Across from Rio Grande High School

Is green

Bright green

In early spring

Fog seeps

Rising from the field

Like a whisper

The field of alfalfa

With infinite patience

Sits

Waits

And breathes

It moves

Following the wind

It sways

And sometimes

Fights back

By Adan Baca

 

This native herb of southwest Asia was under cultivation as early as 1,000 BC in the Middle East. It is the earliest known plant to be under domestication for livestock feed. It has one of the highest nutrient contents known…it is high in protein, calcium, chlorophyll, carotene, and vitamin K. Due to these high levels it is considered good food for animals and humans as well! In Russia and China the young tender alfalfa leaves are used as a vegetable.

Alfalfa has been used in medicine for over 1500 years. The Costanoan Indians of coastal central California used a poultice of heated leaves for the treatment of earaches. In ancient China and in India with Ayurvedic medicine the leaves were used to treat digestive issues. A classic Roman treatment for arthritis was the ritual drinking of a cup of alfalfa tea twice daily. Traditionally this plant has been used in the treatment of arthritis, atherosclerosis, anemia, bad breath, cancer, constipation, diabetes, endometriosis, osteoporosis and ulcers.

This plant has been used in magic for ages. It was kept in the house or dried and sprinkled around the property to protect form poverty. To increase prosperity it was placed in the pantry (within a small jar), or burned and the ashes scattered around.

The alfalfa seeds can be used to dye fabric yellow; and the fibers in the stems were used for making paper. Care should be used when handling the roots as they contain saponin-like substances that can cause contact dermatitis!

Rabbit-foot Clover – Trifolium arvense

Rabbit Foot Clover

This herb is native to most of Europe, but is not resident through out most of eastern North America. This plant has spread rapidly, and is now considered invasive in some places, including Hawaii. This plant is an excellent companion plant in the apple orchard; the trees will produce fruit that stores better, and has an improved taste!

Rabbit foot clover has been found to be beneficial in the treatment of diarrhea. When the whole plant is used to make a decoction, it is then used throughout the day to treat dysentery like diarrhea, and summer diarrhea in adults and child. It has been found to be effective even when other treatments have failed. This plant requires more research to prove or disprove this ability.

One of the primary modern uses for rabbit foot is for green manure and for its nitrogen fixing abilities. There is only some mild concern over the possibility of toxicity with horses and cattle. Sometimes the hair like fuzz on the flower heads can collect into felt-like, compact masses call phytobezoars (not unlike a cats hairballs), these can close the intestines causing a very distressful death for the animal.

Chinese Wisteria – Wisteria sinensis

Chinese Wisteria

All I have been is pollen dusted,
oh the wisteria sweet
kissing deep,
till I feel the promise of fertile,
drooping fat on a vine
petals that promise nothing,
but hint at all.

By Lisa Shields

This pretty vine from Southeast Asia has an intoxicating scent, get close enough and you will feel it, not just smell it! It can be invasive and is listed on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Councils List of Invasive Species! Due to resin and a glycoside (called wisterin) present in the seeds, seedpods, and the bark it can be toxic if consumed in large quantities. The symptoms can appear up to 24 hours after ingestion, and include nausea, abdominal pain, and repeated vomiting.

Wisteria was introduced to the United States from Japan and China in the 1800s. The largest one is in the Sierra Madre’s covering more than an acre, and estimated at weighing 250 tons!!

Although the seed is toxic it can be used as a diuretic when used in the treatment of heart ailments. The flowers can be eaten and have been ‘cured’ in sugar then mixed with flour. This then is made into a famous delicacy in China. The leaves may be used as a tea substitute.

A buff colored paper can be made from the fibers in the vine.

Crimson Clover – Trifolium incarnatum

Crimson Clover

This common annual cover crop is a native to southern Europe and often escapes cultivation to be found on roadsides, fields and empty lots. Being brought to the US originally in 1819 as forage for cattle, it is also used for erosion control, and beautification. It grows well in apple orchards acting in a beneficial way to improve flavors. It is a poor companion with camellias and gooseberries. It harbors a mite that may cause fruit drop and premature budding in the camellias.

The seeds can be sprouted and eaten in salads. They can also be dried and ground into nutritious flour. Dried flower heads are a tea substitute. Although used for human nutrition on occasion it is a protein rich forage crop for cattle and other livestock.

It makes an excellent, fast growing green manure that fixes nitrogen in the soil. Crimson clover may be used as a cover crop, green manure, pasture, or hay. It often is used as a winter annual cover crop in annual rotations. It is used in orchards and vineyards where it manages to reseed itself.

Redbud – Cercis canadensis

Redbud flowers

I will go, I said, to the country
      When the red-bud blooms in the spring
And then, as of old, for sheer rapture
      My heart will sing…

by May Frink Converse

 

Another native tree of Eastern North America is often the symbol of spring in the South. This tree not only grows wild in the woodlands, it is planted along streets all over the South. When the tree is in bloom, showy magenta pink flowers cover the branches.

Because the inner bark is astringent, a tea made form it is used in the treatment of fevers, diarrhea and dysentery. It is also a folk remedy for leukemia. A cold decoction of the roots and inner bark has been used in the past to treat whooping cough, chest congestion, and other chest complaints.

Early settlers used the flower buds in salads. The taste has a refreshing acidic tang that seems to indicate the high Vitamin C content. In some parts of southern Appalachia, green twigs from the Eastern redbud are used as seasoning for wild game such as venison and opossum. The green, young seedpods are edible…just cook, butter and treat just like peas!

People have used the red roots of this tree to make a dye; while the inner bark of twigs gives a mustard-yellow dye. Boiled in water, redbud twigs produce a yellow dye. (Kershaw)

A Native American legend refers to a woman who gave Seets-a’ ma a beautiful bag. It was red as blood, for it was made of the flowers of the redbud tree. In this bag was the color and fragrance of the flowers, which grew on the Tree Of Light, which fell down from heaven into the Great water.