Uses of Mucuna

SOME COMMON TRADITIONAL USES OF MUCUNA PRURIENS :

• In India, Ayurvedic physicians of the ancient Indian medical system have noted down various formulation of Mucuna Prurienes for a varied ailments.

• In Brazil, the toasted ground cowhage seeds are used as a coffee substitute.

• Ghanaian farmers explained that mucuna seeds were cracked and then boiled for 20–60 min and that the cooking water was thrown away before the seeds were ground up for the sauce or stew.

• The Beninese farmers as well as the researchers appreciated the taste of several Mucuna sauces and stews.

• In Japan, Cultivation for producing of green manure is still found. After removing toxic substances from cowhage seeds by soaking and boiling, it is prepared into yam paste with bean or bean jam.

FEW FORMULATIONS OF COWHAGE :

• Abdominal discomfort : Grind the root of Mucuna pruriens to make a paste. Take this paste orally once a day for two days.

• Cholera : Boil the roots of Mucuna pruriens with four litres of water. Filter the decoction. Take one glass of this decoction orally with honey eight times a day until cured.

• Diabetes : Grind together the following into powder: 50 g seeds of Mucuna pruriens, 50 g seeds of Hygrophila auriculata, 50 g tubers of Ipomoea digitata, 50 g roots of Withania somnifera, 50 g tuber of Curculigo orchioides and 50 g tuber of Salmalia malabarica. Take one teaspoonful of this powder orally with one glass of water in which sugar candy is already dissolved, twice a day for a month.

• Infertility (In men) : Put 10 g roots of Mucuna pruriens s glass of cow milk. After few minutes the colour of this milk change to black. Take this glass of milk orally in the evening once a day for seven days.

• Leucorrhoea : Grind the seeds of Mucuna pruriens into powder. Take one teaspoonful of this powder orally with 10 g honey twice a day for fifteen days.

• Scorpion bite : Grind the seeds of Mucuna pruriens with water to make a paste. Apply this paste on the affected area twice a day for four days.

• Snakebite : Extract juice from the roots of Mucuna pruriens. Take orally one teaspoonful of this juice three to four times continuously just after snake bite (or) Grind 100 g root of Mucuna pruriens to make a paste. Mix 50 g molasses to this paste. Take this paste orally with water just after snakebite.

• Toothache : Sundry the root of Mucuna pruriens. Grind this dried root into powder. Apply this powder on the aching teeth.

• Worm infection in cattle : Grind the fruit of Mucuna pruriens to make a paste. Administer orally this paste with water to the cattle twice a day for four days or Grind the seed of Mucuna pruriens into paste. Administer this paste orally with water to the cattle once a day until cured.

• Worm infection : Grind together the root of Mucuna pruriens with the root of Cassia occidentalis to make a paste. Take this paste orally with a glass of water once a day for three days.