Job's tears (''Coix lacryma-jobi)'', also known as Adlay or Adlay millet, is a tall grain-bearing perennial
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
of the family
Poaceae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
(grass family). It is native to
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and introduced to Northern China and India in remote antiquity, and elsewhere cultivated in gardens as an
annual
Annual may refer to:
* Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
**Yearbook
** Literary annual
* Annual plant
* Annual report
* Annual giving
* Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco
* Annuals (b ...
. It has been naturalized in the southern United States and the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
tropics. In its native environment it is grown at higher
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
areas where rice and corn do not grow well. Job's tears are also commonly sold as Chinese pearl barley.
There are two main varieties of the species, one wild and one cultivated. The wild variety, ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''lacryma-jobi'', has hard-shelled pseudocarps—very hard, pearly white, oval structures used as beads for making
prayer beads
Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to count the repetitions of prayers, chants, or mantras by members of various religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Umbanda, Islam, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and some Christian denominations ...
or
rosaries
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
, necklaces, and other objects. The cultivated variety ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''ma-yuen'' is harvested as a
cereal
A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
crop, has a soft shell, and used medicinally in parts of Asia.
Nomenclature
Job's tears may also be referred to under different spellings (Job's-tears,
Jobs-tears
[). The crop is also known by other common names in English, such as adlay or adlay millet. Other common names in English include coix seed,] gromwell grass, and tear grass.
The seeds are known in Chinese as ''yìyǐ rén'' (),[ where ''rén'' means "kernel", and also described in Latin as ''semen coicis'' or ''semen coicis lachryma-jobi'' in pharmacopoeic literature.][
]
Taxonomy
The species, native to Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, was named by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in 1753 with the epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
as a Latin translation of the metaphorical '' tear of Job
Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...
''. , four varieties are accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...
:
* ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''lacryma-jobi''
:Widely distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
to peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
and Taiwan; naturalized elsewhere. The involucres are ovoid, bony and glossy. It has hard shells and is used as beads in crafts.
* ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''ma-yuen''
:South China to peninsular Malaysia and the Philippines.
:The varietal name is eponymous after General Ma Yuen or Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to:
* Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty
* Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty
* Ma Yuan (judge) (馬原), a former Vice President of the Supreme People's ...
() who according to legend learned of the plant's use when he was posted in Cochin China
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
(or Tonkin
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
, in what is now Vietnam), and brought the seeds back to China to be cultivated.[ The involucres are elliptical, striate and soft.
* ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''puellarum''
:Assam to Yunnan (China) and Indochina. It is the smallest among the Indian species, with only 4mm in diameter of the seeds. It is used for ornament as well.
* ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''stenocarpa''
:Eastern Himalayas to Indochina.
Job's tears - along with ''Coix'' in general - was formerly placed in the Maydeae, now known to be polyphyletic.][p.331, "Maize and ''Tripsacum'' were previously grouped with a number of other grasses that have monoecious flowering patterns the most widely known being Job's tears (''Coix lacryma-jobi'') into the Maydeae (74); however, molecular data revealed that this grouping was polyphyletic (61)."] It has cylindrical, longer than broad involucres. It is widely used as beads for ornaments.
Morphology
Job's tear is a monoecious grass which is broad-leaved, loose-growing, branched and robust. It can reach a height between 1.20 m to 1.80 m. Like all members of the genus Grasses, their inflorescences develop from a leaf sheath at the End of the stem and consist partly of hard, globular or oval, hollow, bead-like structures.
Job's tear seeds differ in color, with the more soft-shelled seeds being light brown and the hard-shelled forms having a dark red pericarp.
The hardened "shells" covering the seeds are technically the fruit-case or involucre
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
(hardened bract),[ with the bract also referred to as "capsule-spathe" or "sheathing bract" by some past botanical works.][
These shells cover the bases of the flowers (inflorescences) which are male and female racemes/panicles; the male racemes project upright and consist of overlapping scale-like spikelets, with yellow ]stamens
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
that pop out in-between, and there are one or two yarn-like female racemes drooping from the base.[
]
Proteins and expression
Job's tears - as with ''Coix'' in general - produces its own variety of α-zein prolamin
Prolamins are a group of plant storage proteins having a high proline amino acid content. They are found in plants, mainly in the seeds of cereal grains such as wheat (gliadin), barley (hordein), rye (secalin), corn (zein), sorghum (kafirin), and ...
s. These prolamins have undergone unusually rapid evolutionary divergence from closely related grasses, by way of copy-number changes.[p.335, "Clusters of locally duplicated genes can also expand and contract rapidly, as shown by investigation of the 22-kDa α zein gene families in maize, sorghum, and coix, which appear to have experienced independent copy-number amplifications since the divergence of these three species (107)."]
History
Job's tears is native to Southeast Asian countries, namely India, Burma, China, and Malaysia. Residue on pottery from a Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
(late Yangshao Culture
The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, pinyin: Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after the Yangsh ...
) site in north-central China shows that Job's tears, together with non-native barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
and other plants were used to brew beer as early as ca. 3000 BC.[
Job's tears were already introduced to Japan (and probably cultivated alongside rice) in the Early ]Jōmon Period
The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...
, corroborated by finds in Western Japan (Chūgoku region
The , also known as the region, is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. In 2010, it had a population of 7,563,428.
History
'' ...
), e.g., from studies of phytoliths
Phytoliths (from Greek, "plant stone") are rigid, microscopic structures made of silica, found in some plant tissues and persisting after the decay of the plant. These plants take up silica from the soil, whereupon it is deposited within different ...
in the (ca. 4000 BC) in Okayama Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...
.[ And further east in Japan, the plant has been found at the Toro site, Shizuoka Prefecture dating to the ]Yayoi Period
The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age.
Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...
.[
Remains of Job's tears have been found in archaeological sites in northeastern India, dating to around 1000 BC. It was introduced to the subtropical area in India from the east Himalayan belt.] A number of scholars support the view it has been in cultivation in India in the 2000–1000 BC period. The wild varieties have hard-coated seeds. Job's tear was one of the earliest domesticated crops. Domestication makes the seed coat become softer and easier to cook.
In China, the current cultivation of Job's tears mainly occurs in Fujian, Jiangsu, Hebei, and Liaoning provinces. The cultivation of Job's tears spreads out to temperate areas in North and Northeast China. The shelled grains exported from China were erroneously declared through customs as "pearl barley
Pearl barley, or pearled barley, is barley that has been processed to remove its fibrous outer hull and polished to remove some or all of the bran layer.
It is the most common form of barley for human consumption because it cooks faster and i ...
", and "Chinese pearl barley" remains an alternate common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
so that the grains are sold under such label in Asian supermarket
In the West or non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East, Southeast and South Asia).
These stor ...
s, even though ''C. lacryma-jobi'' is not closely related to barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
(''Hordeum vulgare'').[
]
Importance in the World food system
The yield is harvested in early october and is easy influenced by the weather. If there is dry and hot wind in the initial phase, the pollen loses its vitality, therefore can’t be pollinated. This leads to hollow seeds, which results in yield reduction in light cultivars and zero yield in heavy cultivars.
Early maturing varieties are sown in early March, middle maturing varieties are sown from late March to early April, and late maturing varieties are sown from late April to early May. Sowing should be early rather than late. If sowing is too late, it will affect the yield and even the seeds can not mature after autumn.
The grains of Job's tear can be used the same way as rice. It can be eaten cooked or even raw, as it has a slightly sweet taste. Further, the grains can be used for the production of flour.
Job's tear grains can be processed in the same machine as rice. For the soft hulls it is enough to press them over a sieve. The advantage of Job's tear over rice is that the grains do not need to be polished as it is the case with rice. Through this process, the rice loses its vitamins. This makes Job's tear a valuable food for undernourished populations in rural areas.
Ceylon
In times of food shortage Job's tear was extensively cultivated. Under normal circumstances, however, it could not establish itself in the great variety of cereals. It would be the best substitute for rice in this region.
China
In China the grain is used in soups among other things like barley in Europe
Green fodder and feed
The main use of Job's tear today is as feed.
Uses
Crafts
The hard, white grains of Job's tears have historically been used as beads
A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...
to make necklaces and other objects. The seeds are naturally bored with holes without the need to artificially puncture them.
Strands of Job's tears are used as Buddhist prayer beads
Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to count the repetitions of prayers, chants, or mantras by members of various religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Umbanda, Islam, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and some Christian denominations ...
in parts of India, Myanmar, Laos, Taiwan, and Korea according to Japanese researcher Yukino Ochiai who has specialized on the ethnobotanic usage of the plant. They are also made into rosaries in countries such as the Philippines and Bolivia.
East Asia
= Japan
=
In Japan, the grains growing wild are called ), and children have made playthings out of them by stringing them into necklaces. However, ''juzu-dama'' was a corruption of ''zuzu-dama'' according to folklorist Kunio Yanagita
Kunio Yanagita (柳田 國男, Yanagita Kunio, July 31, 1875 – August 8, 1962) was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a ...
. A type of Buddhist rosary called ''irataka no juzu'', which were hand-made by the ''yamabushi
are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements.
Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...
'' ascetics practicing ''shugendō
is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local fol ...
'' training, purportedly used a large-grain type known as .[ Although this was published as a separate variety, ''C. lacryma jobi'' var. ''maxima'' ,][ it is now regarded as synonymous to ''C. lacryma jobi'' var. ''lacryma-jobi'' according to taxonomical databases (World Checklist of Selected Plant Families).]
It was contended by Edo Period scholar Ono Ranzan
, also known as , was a Japanese botany, botanist and herbalism, herbalist, known as the "Japanese Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus".
Ono's real surname was ; his adult given name was . became his art name and his Chinese style courtesy name.
He was b ...
that the soft-shelled edible type called ''shikoku-mugi'' was not introduced into Japan until the Kyōho era (1716–1736), as opposed to a hard-shelled edible type called ''chōsen-mugi'' (lit. ‘Korean wheat’) which needed to be beaten in order to crack and thresh them.[ This type has been published as a separate species, ''C. agrestis'' in the past,][ but this is now recognized also as a synonym of ''C. lacryma jobi'' var. ''lacryma-jobi''.] Thus Japanese consumption of the crop attested in pre-Kyōho literature presumably used this hard-shelled type in the recipe.
Yanagita contended that the use of the beads predated the introduction of Buddhism into Japan (552/538 CE). And the plant has not only been found at sites dating to approximately this period at the Kuroimine Site, but in Jomon period sites dating to several millennia BC.
= Ocean Road hypothesis
=
Yanagita in his Ocean Road hypothesis argues that the pearly glistening seeds were regarded as simulating or substituting for cowrie shells
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') du ...
, which were used as ornaments and currency throughout Southern China and Southeast Asia in antiquity, and he argued both items to be part of cultural transmission into Japan from these areas.[ ]950
Year 950 ( CML) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids int ...
§2
Later scholars have pursued the validity of the thesis. Yanagita had reproduced a distribution map of the usage of ornamental cowries throughout Asia (compiled by J. Wilfrid Jackson
John Wilfrid Jackson (15 June 1880 – 1978) was a British conchologist, archaeologist and geologist.
Early life
Jackson was born at Scarborough, North Yorkshire to Thomas and Mary Jackson of York. The family later moved to Manchester. At ag ...
), and Japanese ethnologist alluded to a need for a distribution map of ornamental Job's tears, for making comparison therewith.
Mainland Southeast Asia
= Thailand and Myanmar
=
The Akha people
The Akha are an ethnic group who live in small villages at higher elevations in the mountains of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Yunnan Province in China. They made their way from China into Southeast Asia during the early 20th century. Civil war ...
and the Karen people
The Karen, kjp, ပ်ုဖၠုံဆိုဒ်, my, ကရင်လူမျိုး, , th, กะเหรี่ยง ( ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language ...
who live in the mountainous regions around the Thai-Myanmar border grow several varieties of the plant and use the beads to ornament various handicraft. The beads are used strictly only on women's apparel among the Akha, sewn onto headwear, jackets, handbags, etc.; also, a variety of shapes of beads are used. The beads are used only on the jackets of married women among the Karen, and the oblong seeds are exclusively selected, some example has been shown from the Karen in Chiang Rai Province of Thailand.
Strands of job's tears necklaces have also been collected from Chiang Rai Province, Thailand and it is known the Karen people string the beads into necklaces, such necklaces in use also in the former Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by the Red Karen, in the area of present-day Kayah State, eastern Burma. They were located south of the Federated Shan States and ea ...
(current Kayah State
Kayah State ( my, ကယားပြည်နယ်, formerly Karenni State) is a state of Myanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by Shan State, on the east by Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, and on the south and wes ...
of Burma), with the crop being known by the name ''cheik'' (var. ''kyeik'', ''kayeik'', ''kyeit'') in Burmese
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (hor ...
. Job's tears necklace has been collected also from Yunnan Province
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
, China,[ which has a population of Akha- Hani people and other minorities, but the ]Wa people
The Wa people ( Wa: Vāx; my, ဝလူမျိုး, ; ; th, ว้า) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in Northern Myanmar, in the northern part of Shan State and the eastern part of Kachin State, near and along Myanm ...
of Yunnan also used the plant seeds (''tɛ kao''; lit. ‘fruit-Coix’) sewn onto fabrics and bags, etc.[
The Wa people and other minorities like the ]Taungyo
The Taungyo ( my, တောင်ရိုး လူမျိုး ''Tauñyoù lumyoù'') are a sub-ethnic group of the Bamar people living primarily in Shan State and centered on Pindaya.
Language
They speak Taung-yo (တောင်ရို ...
ethnic group use the beads in apparel in Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
, Myanmar.
Insular Southeast Asia
= Borneo
=
In Northern Borneo Malay ( Dayak group) ethnic tribes such as the Kelabit people
The Kelabit are an indigenous Dayak people of the Sarawak/ North Kalimantan highlands of Borneo with a minority in the neighbouring state of Brunei. They have close ties to the Lun Bawang. The elevation there is slightly over 1,200 meters. ...
of Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
state (and North Kalimantan, Indonesia), the Dusun people
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
and Murut people
The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group, comprising 29 sub-ethnic groups inhabiting the northern inland regions of Borneo. The Murutic languages are a family of half a dozen closely related Austronesian languages. The Murut can be found mainly ...
of Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
state all use the plant beads as ornament. The Kayan of Borneo also use job's tears to decorate clothing and war dress.[
]
= Philippines
=
Job's tears ( tl, tigbí) are otherwise known by many local names in the Philippines (e.g. bik, adlái in Visaya
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it ...
Islands).[ The beads strung together have sometimes been used as ]rosaries
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
,[ or made into bead curtains][ (e.g. the ]Tboli people
The Tboli people () are one of the indigenous peoples of South Cotabato in southern Mindanao. In the body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao, their name is variously spelt Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tagabili, Tagabilil, Tagabulul ...
on Mindanao), or woven into baskets and other vessels.[
]
Americas
The plant was known as ''calandula'' in Spanish, and the hards seeds were strung together as beads or into rosaries in parts of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
, e.g., Puerto Rico.[
In both the ]Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a Federally recognized tribe, federally recognized Indian Tribe based in Western North Carolina in the U ...
and the Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
in Oklahoma, the beads of Job's tears are called "corn beads" or "Cherokee corn beads" and have been used for personal adornment.
Food
Throughout East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, Job's tears are available in dried form and cooked as a grain. Job's tears grains are widely eaten as a cereal.[ The cultivated varieties are soft-shelled, and can be easily cooked into ]gruels
Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a st ...
, etc. Among the Zomi in Southeast Asia, miim festival(Job's tears festival) was held annually to pay tribute to the departed souls.
Some of the soft-shelled types are easily threshed, producing sweet kernels. The threshed (and polished[) "kernels" or ''ren'' () are used in ]traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
(see ''infra'').
The threshed grains are generally spherical, with a groove on one end, and polished white in color. In Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
unpolished grains are also sold, and marketed as ''yūki hatomugi'' (‘organic job's tears’).
In Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, where it is known as ''skuay'' (ស្គួយ), the seeds are not much used as a grain,[ but used as part of herbal medicine and as an ingredient in desserts. In ]Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, it is often consumed in teas and other drinks, such as soy milk
Soy milk (simplified Chinese: 豆浆; traditional Chinese: 豆漿) also known as soya milk or soymilk, is a plant-based drink produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a sta ...
.
It is also a minor cereal crop and fodder in Northeastern India.
Beverages and soups
In Korean cuisine
Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine reflects a complex interaction of the natural envi ...
, a thick drink called '' yulmu cha'' (율무차, literally "Job's tears tea") is made from powdered Job's tears. A similar drink, called ''yi ren jiang '' (薏仁漿), also appears in Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...
, and is made by simmering whole polished Job's tears in water and sweetening the resulting thin, cloudy liquid with sugar. The grains are usually strained from the liquid but may also be consumed separately or together.
In Japan, the roasted kernels are brewed into , literally a "tea". This is drunk for medicinal value and not for enjoyment, as it does not suit the average consumer's taste, but a more palatable brew is obtained by roasting seeds that have been germinated, which reduces the distinctive strong odor.
In southern China, Job's tears are often used in ''tong sui
''Tong sui'' (; ), also known as ''tim tong'', is a collective term for any sweet, warm soup or custard served as a dessert at the end of a meal in Cantonese cuisine. ''Tong sui'' are a Cantonese specialty and many varieties are rarely f ...
'' (糖水), a sweet dessert soup. One variety is called ''ching bo leung
''Ching bo leung'' (; also spelt ''ching po leung'' or ''qing bu liang'') is a sweet, cold soup of Chinese origin and commonly served in Cantonese cuisine, Hainanese cuisine and Guangxi cuisine. It is a type of ''tong sui''. It is known as ''s ...
'' in Cantonese (), and is also known as ''sâm bổ lượng
''Ching bo leung'' (; also spelt ''ching po leung'' or ''qing bu liang'') is a sweet, cold soup of Chinese origin and commonly served in Cantonese cuisine, Hainanese cuisine and Guangxi cuisine. It is a type of ''tong sui''. It is known as ''s ...
'' in Vietnamese cuisine
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes ( vi, ngũ vị, links=no, label=none): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflec ...
. There is also a braised chicken dish ''yimidunji'' ().
Alcoholic beverages
In both Korea and China, distilled liquors are also made from the grain. One Korean liquor is called ''okroju'' (옥로주; hanja: 玉 露 酒), which is made from rice and Job's tears. The grains are also brewed into beers in northeast India and other parts of southeast Asia.
Traditional medicine
Job's tears are used with other herbs
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
in traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
or folk medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
.
The plant is noted in an ancient medical text ''Huangdi Neijing
''Huangdi Neijing'' (), literally the ''Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor'' or ''Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', is an ancient Chinese medical text or group of texts that has been treated as a fundamental doctrinal source for Chines ...
'' (5th–2nd centuries BCE) attributed to the legendary Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), but fails to be noticed in the standard traditional materia medica reference ''Bencao Gangmu
The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...
'' (本草綱目)(16c.).
Cultivation requirements
Soil and climate requirement
It is generally grown in sunny, fertile, well-drained fields with sandy loam
Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...
soil. Adlay likes mild, cool and humid climate. It does not adapt to hot and muggy climate, has low cold tolerance, and is very intolerant of drought. Black-shelled adlay is suitable for planting in areas with altitudes of 800 to 1,000 m; dwarf adlay varieties are suitable for planting in low altitude areas.
Seedbed requirements and sowing
Soaking seeds with disinfectant
A disinfectant is a chemical substance or compound used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms on inert surfaces. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially resistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than st ...
has a positive influence on germination
Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...
rate.
Planting can be done when the ground temperature is above 12 ℃. And if it is not frost, sowing should be done as early as possible to lengthen the required days to emergence and days to anthesis
Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period.
The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In ''Banksia'' species, for example, anthesis involves the extension ...
. Adlay sowing is divided into strip sowing and hole sowing. The strip sowing refers to the uniform sowing of seeds in trenches with a spacing of about 50 cm and a depth of 4–5 cm. Hole sowing refers to sowing seeds in holes 3–5 cm deep, with 3-4 seeds per hole.
Cultivation management
Control the number of seedlings per hole when the seedlings have 3-4 true leaves, and leave 2-3 well-grown plants in each hole.
Tillage
Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoein ...
at least 3 times during the whole crop growth. The 1st tillage is to be done when the seedlings are 5–10 cm high and needs to be cleaned of weeds to promote tillering. The second tillage is done when the seedlings are 15–20 cm high. The 3rd plowing is done when the seedlings are 30 cm high, combined with fertilizer and soil cultivation to promote root growth and prevent collapse.
Production
Growth and development
It is an annual crop but it can be a perennial when allowed to develop ratoon
Ratooning is the agricultural practice of harvesting a monocot crop by cutting most of the above-ground portion but leaving the roots and the growing shoot apices intact so as to allow the plants to recover and produce a fresh crop in the next se ...
. Adlay is propagated by seeds at the start of rain. The germination occurs as early as 7 days after sowing. It takes 5 to 5.5 months to flower and mature. The average height can reach over 90 cm at harvest. The application of N fertilizer can significantly improve the yield of adlay.
Drought is a major stress for adlay growth and development. The lack of moisture will cause impaired germination and poor establishment. During the growth and maturation stage, water deficits will reduce the leaf area index and lead to barrenness, which negatively affects photosynthesis and dry matter production.
Harvest and post-harvest operations
When nearly 80% of adlay grains turn brown, the panicle
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
will be harvested by cutting the stems and leaving three nodes above the ground. The harvest period varies with the different varieties and local environment.[Mendoza, A. J. A., Sabellano Jr, F. M., Baco, L. T., Nabua, W. C., & Pantallano, E. S. (2015). "VARIETAL PERFORMANCE OF ADLAI (Coix lacryma-jobi L.)". ''NMSCST Research Journal'', ''3''(1).] Because of the uneven height and grain distribution, the use of machines for harvesting is limited and harvesting has been done by hand in many regions in Southeastern Asia. Then the harvested panicles are threshed by hand or using a treadle thresher. For manual threshing, it is normally used when the harvested grains are at lower moisture content and easily shatter. Threshed grains are sun dried or placed in drying facilities where they utilize forced warm air to gradually reduce the moisture content to 14% suited to storage before the adlay moves to the milling
Milling may refer to:
* Milling (minting), forming narrow ridges around the edge of a coin
* Milling (grinding), breaking solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting in a mill
* Milling (machining), a process of using rota ...
process. The adlay can be consumed as grains and flour after being milled through corn and rice mill. The milling recovery is about 60% depending on the cultivars.
Nutritional value
The seeds of Job's tears are protein-rich and nutrient-dense. High in dietary fibre
Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...
, zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
and calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
. They contain micronutrients like thiamine, riboflavin
Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved in ...
, vitamin E
Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vitami ...
, and niacin
Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...
. They cover 8 types of amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...
s for human consumption.
Starch and protein
Job's tears contain high amount of starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
(58%). The seeds are used as ingredients to make soup, porridge, flour and pastries. It is common to grind seeds into powder form to make pastries. Two major methods are used to isolate starch: alkaline steeping method and steeping with sodium metabisulfite
Sodium metabisulfite or sodium pyrosulfite (IUPAC spelling; Br. E. sodium metabisulphite or sodium pyrosulphite) is an inorganic compound of chemical formula Na2S2O5. The substance is sometimes referred to as disodium metabisulfite. It is used a ...
(Na2S2O5), an antioxidant and antimicrobial agent. Job's tears also contain edible protein (14.8%), which can be extracted through alkaline extraction method and salt extraction method.
Fatty acids
Job's tears contain mostly unsaturated fatty acid
In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, fr ...
s. The four main fatty acids (oleic acid
Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is an odorless, colorless oil, although commercial samples may be yellowish. In chemical terms, oleic acid is classified as a monounsaturated omega ...
, linoleic acid
Linoleic acid (LA) is an organic compound with the formula COOH(CH2)7CH=CHCH2CH=CH(CH2)4CH3. Both alkene groups are cis-trans isomerism, ''cis''. It is a fatty acid sometimes denoted 18:2 (n-6) or 18:2 ''cis''-9,12. A linoleate is a salt (chem ...
, palmitic acid
Palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid in IUPAC nomenclature) is a fatty acid with a 16-carbon chain. It is the most common saturated fatty acid found in animals, plants and microorganisms.Gunstone, F. D., John L. Harwood, and Albert J. Dijkstra. The Li ...
, and stearic acid
Stearic acid ( , ) is a saturated fatty acid with an 18-carbon chain. The IUPAC name is octadecanoic acid. It is a waxy solid and its chemical formula is C17H35CO2H. Its name comes from the Greek word στέαρ "''stéar''", which means tallow. ...
) under three extraction methods: solvent processes, supercritical fluid extraction Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is the process of separating one component (the extractant) from another (the matrix) using supercritical fluids as the extracting solvent. Extraction is usually from a solid matrix, but can also be from liquids. ...
and ultrasonic-assisted extraction.
Pests
Job's tear is less subject to attacks of locust
Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...
s than rice and corn.
Insect pests include:
*stem borers ''Sesamia inferens
''Sesamia inferens'', the Asiatic pink stem borer, gramineous stem borer, pink borer, pink rice borer, pink rice stem borer, pink stem borer, purple borer, purple stem borer or purplish stem borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species ...
'' and ''Ostrinia furnacalis
''Ostrinia furnacalis'' is a species of moth in the family Crambidae, the grass moths. It was described by Achille Guenée in 1854 and is known by the common name Asian corn borer since this species is found in Asia and feeds mainly on corn crop ...
''
*rice skipper ''Pelopidas mathias
''Pelopidas mathias'', the dark small-branded swift, small branded swift, lesser millet skipper or black branded swift, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found throughout much of south, southeast and East Asia, and as far ...
'' (leaf feeder)
*thrip '' Chaetanaphothrips orchidii''
*aphid ''Rhopalosiphum maidis
''Rhopalosiphum maidis'', common names corn leaf aphid and corn aphid, is an insect, and a pest of maize and other crops. It has a nearly worldwide distribution and is typically found in agricultural fields, grasslands, and forest-grassland zon ...
''
*woolly aphid ''Ceratovacuna lanigera
The sugarcane woolly aphid (''Ceratovacuna lanigera'') is an aphid
Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary wi ...
''
It is susceptible to leaf blight
Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism.
Description
Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral org ...
.
Gallery
An unripened head of Job's Tears.jpg, An unripened head of Job's Tears
Bhirgaudi Nepali.JPG, ''C. lacryma-jobi'' plant with flowers and fruit in Nepal
Yulmu (Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen).jpg, Job's tears grains
Yulmucha (Job's tears tea).jpg, '' Yulmu-cha'' (Job's tears tea) from Korea
Yulmu-bap.jpg, ''Yulmu-bap
BAP or bap may refer to:
Food
* Bap (bread), a type of bread roll
* Bap (rice dish), a Korean food
Music
* BAP (Basque band), a hardcore punk group (formed 1984)
* BAP (German band), a Colognian rock group (formed 1976)
* B.A.P (South Korean ban ...
'' (Job's tears rice) from Korea
Leiden University Library - Seikei Zusetsu vol. 20, page 011 - 薏苡 - Coix lacryma-jobi L., 1804.jpg, Illustration of ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' from the Japanese encyclopedia ''Seikei Zusetsu'' (1804)
Coix lacryma-jobi.jpg, ''C. lacryma-jobi'' seeds in a necklace prepared in the Zulu tradition
Explanatory notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Yanagita, Kunio (1950). "''Takaragai no koto'' 宝貝のこと". ''Bunka Okinawa'' 2 (7)
* —— (1953). "''Hito to zuzudama'' 人とズズダマ". ''Shizen to bunka'' (3)
*
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@ aozora
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@ aozora
External links
Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Volume 5, Fruits, TK Lim, 2013
{{Taxonbar, from=Q827098
lacryma-jobi
Cereals
Decorative fruits and seeds
Plants described in 1753
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Job (biblical figure)