Faba, Beans

Picture Gart der Gesundheit, Cuba, 1485

Picture Ortus Sanitatis, Meydenbach, 1491

Picture Dioscorides Materia Medica, Mathias, 1563

Picture Icones Plantarum Medcio-oeconomico, Vietz, 1800


Botanical name:


Vicia faba
‘Garden’ and Wild (‘Field’) Beans are used similarly
See also, Phaseolus, Kidney Bean

Parts used:


Beans; Flowers; Bean straw

Temperature & Taste:


Cool, dry. Sweet
thickens, cleanses

Uses:


1. Tonifies Qi:
-very nutritious; increases energy and stamina
-helps put on weight
-nourishes Sperm

2. Astringes to Stop Leakage:
-Diarrhea,
Lienteries etc.
-husks boiled down until a third has wasted is taken for Diarrhea (Culpeper)

3. Clears Damp, Promotes Urine, Clears Stones:
-Diuretic; Edema, stoppage or obstruction of Urine
-Stones (esp. Salt)
-Green Pods, Flowers, especially the Salt of Bean Straw expel Urine and clear Stones

4. Externally:
-meal or flowers for Freckles and other spots of the skin, used as a scrub
-distilled water of the flowers removes spots, freckles and wrinkles (Culpeper)
-Bruises and Black Eyes
-red, inflamed or watering eyes
-applied to Gout
-applied to dry up Breast Milk (bean meal mixed with Oxymel and applied, Salmon)
-applied to swelling of the Breasts from curdling milk (Culpeper)
-applied to Felons, Boils, Abscesses
-a fresh green bean, skin removed and split in two is applied to Leech bites to stop bleeding (Culpeper)
-husk ashes mixed with hog fat is applied to chronic pain and wounds of the Sinews, and Sciatica (Culpeper)



Main Combinations:


1. Bruises, swelling of the Genitals or Breasts, Bean meal with Vinegar or Oxymel applied
2. Gout, Bean meal with Hog Lard, applied
3. Red, inflamed and watering Eyes, with Rose, Frankincense and Egg white topically (Salmon)
4. Bean meal, Fenugreek meal mixed with Honey is applied to Felons, Boils, Abscesses, Bruises
5. Swellings of the Genitals, Bean flour is boiled into a poultice with wine, vinegar and oil, and applied (Culpeper)



Cautions:


1. Very nutritious, but very Windy; therefore not suitable for Wind constitutions unless properly prepared. Prolonged boiling makes them less Windy, as does the addition of Butter, Salt, Pepper, Cumin etc.

Main Preparations used:


Distilled Water of the Flowers, Salt of Bean Straw