FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
FENUGREEK, TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM
Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.
Trigonella feonumgraecum. Leguminous plant eaten as vegetable, seeds used for flavoring. Consumed by women in Orient to help gain weight. Analysis of seeds per 100g: 29 g protein, 5g fat, 50g carbohydrate, 355 kcal (1.46MJ), 180mg Ca, 22mg Fe, 0.4mg vitamin B1, 0.3mg vitamin B2, 1.5mg nicotinic acid.
Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.
Originally from the Mediterranean region, this annual herb from the pea family is cultivated in India. The fresh leaves are used as a vegetable and although bitter when raw, after cooking they become almost sweet.
Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
A natural flavoring from an annual herb grown in Southern Europe, North Africa, and India for the seeds used in making curry. Fenugreek is a butter, butterscotch, maple, black walnut, and spice flavoring agent for beverages, ice cream, candy, baked goods, condiments, meats, and syrups. The extract is a butter, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, coffee, fruit, maple, meat, black walnut, walnut, root beer, spice, and vanilla flavoring agent for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, puddings, chewing gum, condiments, meats, syrups, pickles, liquors, and icings. The oleoresin is a fruit, maple, and nut flavoring agent for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, puddings, and syrups. No known toxicity.
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. II
is a herb (Trigonella Faenum-Graecum) and used as a flavoring in confectioners.
Barer-Stein, Thelma. 1999. You EatWhat You Are. A FireFly Book, [GT 2850 .B371 1999]
is a sweet aromatic powder or seeds used in large amounts to flavor bread and certain dishes.[Egyptian p. 123]
Simon, Andre L. 1952. A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.
Lat. Trigonella Foenum-Graecum; Fr. Foin-grec; also referred to as Greek hay one of the pot herbs greatly in favour in ancient times, and even in olden days, but practically out of cultivation in England nowadays. Still used in the making of curry.
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM, FENUGREEK, HELBEH
is a plant of Europe and Orient. Fenugreek is cultivated in Morocco, in the south of France near Montpelier, in Alsace, in a few places in Switzerland, in some provices of the German and Austrian Empires, as Thringia and Moravia, and on a large scale in Egypt, where it is known as helbeh. In Egypt, fenugreek is eaten crude and its sprouting seeds are often mixed in a ragout with honey. Helbeh conserve, says Pickering, was once an article of export, even to Britain, and to the present day is employed by Arabs along the east African coast for child-stealing. At Rosetta, the seeds are used as a coffee. Fenugreek is a favorite article of diet with the Parsees of India, says Pickering. It is extensively cultivated in India, says Dutt, the seeds to be used as a condiment and the aromatic leaves as a potherb. In 1859, seeds of helbeh were introduced into the United States through the Patent Office from Palestine, and they are now offered in our seed catalogs.
