Fenugreek

An upright annual one to two feet tall with clover-like leaves of three oval leaflets, small white or pale yellow pea flowers, and long, slender, curved pods holding 10 to 20 hard, golden-brown seeds. The dried herb and seeds smell strongly of maple or curry.

Charred fenugreek seeds have been found in Iraq dated to about 4000 BCE, and seeds were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The name comes from the Latin faenum Graecum, “Greek hay,” because the Romans grew it as fodder.

It is essential in Indian, Ethiopian, Yemeni, and Persian cooking. In Yemen, whipped fenugreek (hilbeh) is a daily condiment, and in India the seeds are a standard postpartum food.

Sow directly in spring or fall in sun and ordinary soil; it grows fast and cool weather suits it best. Cut leaves as microgreens in two weeks or as greens in a month, or let plants set pods for seed. It fixes nitrogen and makes a good cover crop.

Most seed is sold simply as fenugreek or methi; Indian varieties are bred for leaf or seed. Grow it with cilantro and mustard greens for a quick Indian greens bed.

Cut leaves before flowering for fresh or dried methi (kasuri methi). Pull whole plants when the pods turn yellow-brown, dry them, and thresh out the seeds.

Soaked seeds were eaten or drunk as water for digestion, and a paste of ground seeds was used as a warm poultice for boils and sore skin. Nursing mothers in many cultures have taken fenugreek to encourage milk.

Toast seeds lightly in hot oil until golden (not dark, or they turn very bitter) at the start of dals, pickles, and curries; they are one of the five seeds of Bengali panch phoron. Cook fresh leaves with potatoes as aloo methi, and rub dried leaves over butter chicken at the end.

Seeds as spice, sprouts, tea, and poultice; leaves as a vegetable. In Ayurveda fenugreek is used for poor digestion, loss of appetite, fever, and diabetes. In Chinese medicine the seed is a warming tonic for cold and pain in the lower body.

Ayurveda (methi): bitter taste, heating potency, pungent post-digestive effect; reduces Kapha and Vata. Chinese medicine (hú lú bā): bitter, warm, entering the Kidney and Liver channels.

The seeds are about half fiber, much of it a gummy galactomannan that swells in water. They contain the alkaloid trigonelline, steroidal saponins such as diosgenin, the unusual amino acid 4-hydroxyisoleucine, and protein. The maple smell comes from sotolon, which is also used to fake maple flavor.

NCCIH says fenugreek may help lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes but many studies were of low quality, and results for increasing breast milk and for menstrual cramps are mixed. European regulators list the seed as a traditional herbal medicine for loss of appetite and, applied to the skin, for minor skin inflammation.

Fenugreek is not safe in pregnancy in more than food amounts; it has been linked to birth defects and can stimulate the uterus. It can cause diarrhea and gas, can lower blood sugar, and can cause allergic reactions, especially in people allergic to peanuts, chickpeas, or soy.

After eating a lot of fenugreek, your sweat and urine may smell like maple syrup. It is harmless, but it can confuse doctors testing a baby for maple syrup urine disease if a nursing mother takes it.