Self Help

From ancient times through the late 19th century, fenugreek played a major role in herbal healing. Then it fell by the wayside. Now things are looking up for the herb with a taste that is an odd combination of bitter celery and maple syrup. In animal studies, fenugreek helps reduce cholesterol levels, and it may well have similar benefits for people.

Fenugreek plants were used to help sick animals long before its seeds became a popular remedy for human ills. Early Greeks mixed the plant into moldy or insect-damaged animal for age to make it more palatable, and in the process discovered that sick horses and cattle would eat fenugreek when they wouldn’t eat anything else.

The Egyptians and Romans adopted “Greek hay,” a name that evolved into fenugreek. Today the plant is widely used to flavor horse and cattle feed, and some veterinarians still use it to encourage sick horses and cattle to eat.

As fenugreek spread around the Mediterranean, ancient physicians learned that its seeds contain a great deal of mucilage. Mixed with water, mucilage becomes gelatinous and
soothes inflamed or irritated tissue. Egyptian physicians used fenugreek in ointments to treat wounds and abscesses. They also recommended the herb internally to treat fevers and respiratory and intestinal complaints. Hippocrates and other ancient Greek and Roman physicians used it similarly.

Ancient Chinese healers used fenugreek to treat fevers, hernia, gall bladder problems, muscle aches, and even impotence. In India, where the herb was incorporated into curry spice blends, Ayurvedic physicians used it to treat arthritis, bronchitis, and digestive upsets.

Indian women ate the seeds to increase their milk production. Arab women from Libya to Syria ate the roasted seeds to gain weight and attain the Rubenesque proportions synonymous with beauty from ancient times through the 19th century.

Fenugreek is the only healing herb ever used as a weapon of war. During the Roman siege of Jerusalem, general and future emperor Vespasian ordered his troops to scale the city’s imposing walls. The standard defense against this was to pour boiling water or oil on the attackers and their ladders.

According to The History of the Jewish War by Jewish traitor Flavius Josephus, Jerusalem’s defenders added fenugreek to the oil they poured on the Romans, making it more slippery.
Those avid herb gardeners, the Benedictine monks, popularized fenugreek throughout Europe around the ninth century. From that time on, it was widely used in folk medicine as it had been by the ancients - to treat wounds, fevers, and digestive and respiratory ailments.