Fenugreek

Fenugreek

Fenugreek
The plant is grown as a green leafy vegetable and for its seeds. The plant is eaten as salad and also after cooking popularly known as `Methi sag`. The seed is a popular spice. Both plant and the seeds are considered medicinal.
The robust herb has light green leaves, is 30 to 60 cm tall, and produces slender beaked pods 10 to 15 cm long. Each pod contains 10 to 20 small hard yellowish brown seeds, which are smooth and oblong, about 3 mm long; each is grooved across one corner, giving it a hooked appearance.
Description
The name fenugreek or foenum-graecum is from Latin for "Greek hay". The plant's similarity to wild clover has likely spawned its Swedish name, "bockhornsklöver", literally meaning 'ram's horn clover'. 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.