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The Ancient Medicinal Food Long ago in the rural landscapes of Asia, a wild plant called Phaseolus sublobatus grew in the moist lowlands. The native populace of India began to notice the hearty flavor and the valuable health benefits of this legume; they decided to cultivate it as a domestic crop in their fields, and soon it was a staple in their diets. The plant is mentioned as far back as 300 B.C. in famous Indian literature, and has a long-established legacy of having healing properties. What resulted from the process of domesticated cultivation is now known as Black Gram (Vigna mungo L.); other common names … Read more

We put a lot of focus on the health benefits of black gram (Vigna mungo L.) and its extraordinary nutritious content, but let’s take a few minutes to shift the topic from health to history. We are going to spend a few fun moments discovering where this incredible legume came from in the first place. Who developed it? …and who was the first culture to recognize it as a superfood? Beyond simply being a food crop, we’ll see that black gram is closely entwined with an ancient culture and religious system we know today as Hinduism, but it has become … Read more