Fenugreek

Trigonella foenum-graecum

Fabaceae

Maple-scented methi — a curry seed, a sprout, and a traditional milk-and-glucose folklore.

Culinary seed and methi leaf. Medicinal amounts of seed can lower blood sugar.

Parts used: Ripe seed · Young leaf
Traditional notes: Kitchen spice · Traditional lactation folklore · After a heavy meal · Blood-sugar folklore at food dose
Grow · USDA 6b: Warm-season annual Direct-sow in warm soil. Successions for leaf. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug
Harvest: Leaf young; seed when pods dry and rattle.

It looks like a clover until the pods appear.
Toast seed or it tastes like raw pea.
The maple smell in the kitchen is the plant, not dessert.

Safety

Pregnancy in medicinal — not food — amounts Chickpea/peanut allergy caution

Lore

The Latin foenum-graecum means ‘Greek hay’ — it was cattle fodder that escaped into the spice box. Indian kitchens know it as methi; a heavy hand makes sweat and milk smell of maple. That is the seed, not a candle.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.