Much has been made of the contributions of European immigrants to our modern day food culture. Here in our blog, we also like to draw attention to the traditions afforded us by millions of others who sacrificed as well.
A very valuable medicinal plant that is extremely popular worldwide is the Castor Bean plant or Ricinus communis. Historical records indicate that one of the places that the Castor Bean originates from is sub-Saharan and tropical, eastern Africa. Castor Beans have actually been found in Egyptian tombs as far back as 4000 BC.
African medicinal plants and food animals were commonly transported across the Atlantic Ocean as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. Plants and animals arrived on slave ships together with African captives for whom these items were traditional dietary staples, medicinals, and food animals.
Once in the Americas, the enslaved continued the use of the medicinal plant to treat skin disorders, venereal diseases and joint pain. In 1871, Samuel Hazard, who had traveled to Cuba commented that the castor bean “grows in great quantities all over these mountains, and is prepared by the… negro women, who select the beans and clean them, ready for extracting the oil.” He marveled at the ability of one elderly slave woman to detect the best beans for expressing oil, even though she was blind.
Remarkably, the Castor Bean is still being used medicinally today, as it has been for centuries. The oil produced from the seeds is most famously used as a laxative but is also used as birth control, and as a skin emollient. Drops derived from castor oil are used by some for the treatment of dry eyes.
Because of its many medicinal uses, and its beauty as an ornamental plant, many gardeners have enjoyed having the Castor Bean in their landscaping. If you choose to indulge in having your own plant you should be aware that it does have toxic properties.
The seeds and hull from the Castor Bean plant contain Ricin, one of the deadliest natural poisons. It is estimated to be 6000 times more poisonous than cyanide and has been used as a chemical warfare agent. An average sized adult person can succumb from consuming no more than 4 of these seeds. Although the Ricin is removed from the Castor Bean oil during cold processing, it is best to grow them at your own risk, if you choose to at all.
I hope that you enjoyed this synopsis of the rich history of the Castor Bean plant. If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy the article from which most of the information was sourced:
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