Bloomin' Tuesday: 06/02/09 Job's Tears & Shalom

Boy o boy, its getting hot down here in East Texas. Summer comes early and stays a long time down here.

I bought Job's tears this year. The seed catalog said the seed pods could be used as natural beads (the holes occur naturally as the seed pod dries), also it is edible. The seeds were tear shaped and quickly grew into short corn looking plants.

I was surprised to see these grainy seed looking parts, THEN this bulby part appeared!!!

TOO cool!! As they get longer they drape and wave in the wind. Lovely:)

From Website Wayne's Word (an online textbook of Natural History):
This is a super cool website, especially for anyone homeschooling. This plant grows super fast, you can dissect it, examine it, and use it for crafts. Too cool!!!

An assortment of Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) necklaces. The natural pearly-white beads can be dyed or painted various shades of colors.





Job's Tears As Food
Native to tropical Asia, Job's tears (also called Adlay) are used for food, particularly by peasants of the Far East. The distinguished 17th century naturalist Georg Eberhard Rumphius stated that in his day Job's tears were planted in Java and Celebes on the margins of rice fields. According to Agnes Arber (The Gramineae, 1965), Job's tears were introduced into China in the first century A.D. by a Chinese general who conquered Tongking, where the grains were widely used as a cereal. The general became so fond of Job's tears that he carried back several cartloads of the seeds to his own country.

Like other cereals, there are many cultivators of Job's tears, including soft-shelled, easily-threshed types with a sweet kernel. In some, the hulled grain is adapted for parching or boiling like rice, while in others it can be milled, ground into flour and baked into bread. Reportedly, the grain has a higher protein content than most cereals. The grains are also utilized in soups, porridge, drinks and pastries. In India, the Nagas use the grain for brewing a beer called zhu or dzu. A Japanese variety called "Ma-Yuen" is brewed into a tea and an alcoholic beverage, and roasted seeds are made into a coffee-like drink. According to Agnes Arber, the leaves are used as fodder in parts of India, and are especially relished by elephants.

~Shalom~

{a Hebrew word meaning peace, completeness, and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye}

~Perfectly Said~

Happy Bloomin' Tuesday!

I'm joining MsGreen "thumb" Jean for Bloomin'" Tuesday! Come join in or see others!